RWBY: The return
by 6-4 pilot
Summary: An ancient force is coming. Their objective is unknown. Not many know about them and those that do don't believe they exist or think they are just Grimm. Will people know the truth before calamity happens? Or will the world of Remnant be destroyed?
1. Chapter 1

**8 years ago**

 **I decided to completely redo RWBY: Resurgence as I didn't like the direction it was going. Hopefully this one will do better. Just a heads up this chapter will be the same as RWBY: Resurgence chapter one. The chapter from now on will be different.**

* * *

 **Location: Settlement called Fyrestone near the border of Vale**

 **Status of settlement: Unknown**

 **Mission: Discover settlements status and reason for dropping of contact**

* * *

Stone Slate was currently inspecting his weapon as he was waiting for the bullhead that was carrying him and his team to drop them off to their destination. He had grey eyes and hair that was short and messy. He wore a full body suit of combat armor that covered his entire body except for his head and hands.

"Hey Stone! Will you quit looking at your weapon and help with something more important! Like, helping me figure out why this town was destroyed." Said Stone's teammate, Jade Arc. She was part of the Arc family, a long line of heroes and warriors that helped defend humanity from the Grimm for generations. She had long blond hair and blue eyes. She wore blue pants and a blank tank top that was covered in a chest piece. She was rather impulsive and headstrong but she got the job done. Her and his other teammate, Onyx Allen and Rouge Blitz, were his closest friends and they went through a lot together. They had each other's backs in their days as hunters and huntresses in training and they still did so in their days as full-fledged huntsmen and huntresses. Stone just scoffed at the question and went back to his weapon, annoying Jade. She was about to slap him but was stopped by Rogue. Rogue was above average in height for a woman and had red hair that covered one of her eyes. She wore a red shirt and pants that went up to her knees.

"Relax Jade. You know how Stone gets when we're about to be on a mission." Said Rogue. "To answer your question, we have no idea how the town was destroyed. Despite it being close to the kingdoms borders, it was deep enough within the kingdom to not be attacked by the more powerful Grimm. It also helps that the town has a fairly large amount of dust under it, making it valuable and worth defending. With the dust, the town had enough money to support a well-trained and equipped militia. So it was concerning when it suddenly dropped all contact." Explained Rogue. It was then that Stone joined in on the conversation.

"That's why they sent us." Said Stone as he placed his weapon on his back after he finished inspecting it. "We're here to find what happened and why the town went dark."

"Yeah, I get that Stone." Said Jade. "What I don't get is how the town suddenly went dark. Like, there was no transmission sent or anything. You think the White Fang did it?" Hearing about the White Fang, Onyx pitched in. Onyx had black hair and red eyes. He wore a sleeveless shirt and short. Like some Faunus, Onyx despised with what the White Fang had become over the years but he was also rational and knew that there was good people still in it.

"I doubt it." Said the dog Faunus. "The town was supportive of Faunus getting more equal rights and freedoms. It wouldn't make much sense and practicality for them to attack the town. Too much backlash." Said Onyx. "My guess is Grimm or some sort of bandit group."

"But those wouldn't make much sense." Said Rogue. "If it was the Grimm, we would have at least gotten a message from them. They had adequate communication systems. And it couldn't be bandits either. They wouldn't attack a town like Fyrestone. The town's militia is just too strong for bandits."

"Whatever the reason is, we're here to find it." Said Stone. The rest of the ride went silent after that. A few minutes would pass before the pilot broke the silence.

"We're approaching the town of Fyrestone." Said the pilot.

"The people haven't contacted us?" Asked Rogue, getting concerned.

"No. In fact I can't see anyone on sensors. The town is a fricking ghost town." Said the Pilot. "I'll land you close to the town. I'll come back and pick you up tomorrow." Said the pilot.

Thanks. I hope you have a safe flight back." Said Jade.

"Of course you do. Who else will fly Huntsmen for half price?" The pilot answered, causing the huntsmen within the craft to chuckle or huff in amusement. Then, the aircraft slowed to a halt and began to hover, its doors sliding open and causing wind to ruffle its occupants' clothes. They four then got off. As soon as they did, the Bullhead took off. The four looked to see Fyrestone completely intact but with no people in it.

"Something is not right." Said Stone, drawing out his weapon. An assault rifle that can transform into an axe. "Rogue, use your semblance and try and find someone." Rogue nodded and began to use her semblance. Her semblance was very similar to a radar in that it allowed her to see people through anything like buildings and rocks. She frowned when she didn't see anyone.

"Nothing in the immediate vicinity, Stone. Not even Grimm." Said Rogue. Stone frowned at this before ordering everyone to go in the town with weapons ready. They went in and were immediately creeped out with how no one was there. It was like they all just up and vanished. But what creeped them out more was that there was no sign of a fight. There was no blood and no destroyed buildings. They searched all the buildings and found nothing.

"This is creeping me out." Said Jade. "Where is everybody?"

"There's no blood or destroyed buildings anywhere." Inspected Onyx. "This can't be the work of the Grimm. No, this had to be work of something intelligent."

"Yeah. Let's check the mines. If this is the work of something intelligence then they must want the dust here." Said Stone. His teammate nodded and they all went into the mines. After inspecting the mines, which were relatively small, they were surprised to find no evidence of someone taking the dust in the mines.

"This is just getting stranger and stranger." Said Rogue. "First, this town goes dark. Then, we find no one here. And finally, no dust is taken. What's going on?"

"Beats me." Said Jade as she inspected cart full of dust crystals. "Maybe whoever did this, just came here to kill everyone." Rogue was about to rebuke her when they heard Onyx yell out in pain. The two girls ran over to where Onyx and Stone was and found Onyx rubbing his head and Stone looking bewildered.

"What happened?" Asked Rogue.

"Onyx bumped into something." Said Stone. "Something invisible."

"No joke." Said Onyx as he got up. "I hit something." He then proceeded to fell around the place where he bumped into something until he felt something. "Hey Jade. Hit this spot right here." Said Onyx as he held the invisible object before letting go. Jade nodded and brought out her sword and slashed it to the invisible object. The sword clanged off and Jade went on the ground on her butt. Everyone was surprised at this. Stone then proceeded to do so as well, only to get the same result. They all then proceeded to do the same thing over and over again before Jade yelled out in frustration.

"ARGH! What's going on?!" Said Jade. "Why can't this invisible thing just stop being invisible and show itself to us!"

"Whatever it is, it must be made out of very strong material to withstand our attacks." Observed Onyx. Stone, meanwhile, was thinking about a way to figure this out when he got an idea and cursed himself for not doing it sooner. He then used his semblance on the device. His semblance allowed him to see the power that runs through things, meaning he could see the heat coming off of people and the power supple of machinery. He looked at the invisible object and saw that it was powered by something that he didn't recognize. He looked for the central power source. He found it and then attempted to destroy it. It work somewhat and the object briefly appeared before them as well as several bodies. Everyone, shocked at the momentary view of the object and bodies, attacked the place over and over again until the object blew up. The blast knocked them all back but didn't hurt them due to their aura. Stone shook his head and got up. Only to be shocked at what he saw now. He saw a huge pile of people and he realized that this was the people of Fyrestone. His teammate all got up and saw the horror that was before them. People were full of bullet holes or had limps teared off. Some were even cut in half vertically. Rogue threw up at the sight.

"What the hell!?" Yelled out Jade as she pointed at the pile.

"I don't know but that object must have had the ability to mask the presence of things. Otherwise, we would have been able to find this pile of bodies." Said Onyx grimly. Stone was looking at the pile with disgust. What kind of monster would do this? His blood boiled when he laid his sights on the corpses of a dead children.

"Whoever did this will pay." Said Stone. "C'mon, we need to find whatever did this and kill it." With that, Stone was walking back to the town. His teammates looked at the pile of corpses in sadness before leaving. When they got back to the surface, they saw that the device not only hid the bodies but also the town because the town was in shambles. Buildings were crushed or destroyed. Blood stains were everywhere.

"Damn." Said Jade. "All this was hidden by that one device?"

"Looks like it." Said Onyx. "We have to report that and the town. The council has to know." Stone nodded and was about to when he suddenly heard a large wail of a machine. He and his team looked at the town to see something flying right at them. It came so fast that they didn't have enough time to react until it was right on top of them. It stopped suddenly and fired the two guns it was holding at Rogue and Jade, going right through their aura and wounding them severely. The guns then suddenly disappeared before the thing attacked Stone and Onyx with blades of light that came out of its arms by some wrist mounted device on both arms. The blades, like the guns, went through the aura like wet paper and stabbed both Onyx and Stone in the chest. The two guys grunted in pain before crumpling in a heap. Stone growled in pain and anger as he saw the thing observe him and his team. The thing was clearly machine in nature as evidenced with its metallic appearance. It had a single glowing red eye on a head that was narrow and triangle shaped. It was entirely gray. The machine then kneeled before scanning the huntsmen.

"Enemy force identified. Force is a team of huntsmen sent to confirm status of town of Fyrestone. Threat level: Low. Required amount of power necessary for defeat of huntsman: below recommended parameters." Said the machine. Stone couldn't believe what he was hearing. This thing treated him and his team like nothing and it was saying that not much power was needed to defeats them. All this was impossible to him. There was no machine that held that much power. He was about to yell at the machine when it spoke again. "Unit cannot allow huntsmen to leave and inform of what happened and what unit is. Recommended course of action: Eliminate huntsmen and send signal that will attract Grimm to city." Said the machine before speaking again in a more human-like speech. "Hear that huntsmen?" Said the machine, shocking Stone as it was speaking more human-like. "You'll die here and people will think that it was the Grimm that did it. No one will know what really happened to you or this town. Except for me of course. This is goodbye. Farewell, Stone Slate." Said the machine before getting up and slamming its foot hard on Stone's head. After doing the deed, the machine then contacted someone. It protested at first before beeping in conformation before dragging the dead bodies of the huntsmen and huntresses into the mines. It then quickly speed out of the mine and Fyrestone just when a wave of Grimm arrived to the town. Making anyone that saw the town, believe that Grimm were responsible.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Present day**

* * *

"We have arrived at Vale. All passengers that wish to get off, should do so now. This ship will leave once the ship has refueled." Said the boat captain over the ship's speakers. Among those that are getting off is a single huntsman-in-training that is eager to do well in his new school. He had brown eyes and black hair with a brownish tint to them. He was around the average height for a human. In fact, he was an average person all around. Nothing that made him unique from any other person. His combat garb consisted of sleek and thing chest armor that covered a short-sleeved gray shirt. He had pants that were also gray and he had knee and elbow guards for protection. He grabbed a duffel bag and walked out of his room and the ship. Once he was away from the ship, he looked around and was amazed with what he saw. The people and scenery was much better than what he was told about it by his teachers and friends. He smiled as he saw a human and Faunas couple pass him with their hands held together. It always made him happy that Faunas and humans were getting along despite the discrimination still going on. With that, he walked around to find the area where he can take an airship to Beacon academy, the huntsman academy where he will be staying for his time here at Beacon. Along the way, he spotted a monkey Faunas talking with a blue-haired guy. The two seemed to be getting along. After some time of searching, the boy found the airstrip where airships were taking people to Beacon academy. He then purchased a ticket and walked to the airship that will take him to Beacon. As the airship was taking off, he couldn't help but wonder if he will make some friends along the way.

"Well, here's hoping that I'll find some friends here." Said the boy as he brought out a bottle of water and began to drink it. Soon, the airship landed and the passengers got out. Once he set his eyes on Beacon tower, he instantly got mesmerized by it. It was grander than he had initially thought. Beacon was huge to say the least. The walkway to the campus was beautifully decorated with flowers and lamp posts. As for the architecture, Beacon looked more like a castle with giant green lights in the tallest spire for which it was named for. "Man, the place is more awesome up close and personal!" Exclaimed the boy as the made his way to the dormitories. Unfortunately, because he was so fascinated by the tower, he accidentally bumped into a girl, causing them to fall to the ground in a thud. Upon recovering and seeing what he done, the boy instantly panicked.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" Yelled the boy as he held out his hand to the girl. The girl looked at him with an impassive face before taking his hand and getting up. She then began to brush off any dirt that got on her clothing. As she was doing this, the boy couldn't help but observe the girl. The girl had fair skin, short dark-brown hair, and dark-brown eyes. She had wavy locks on one side of her face, dyed starts in dark brown and transitions to caramel. Her clothes consist of a long, cocoa-colored shirt with a dark brown waist cincher. She wore long, dark brown trousers with ribbons on the left side and a brown belt with bullets. Above that, she wore another cocoa-colored belt of bullets with a gold crosshairs buckle. She also had what appeared to be a drape of a black skirt hanging on her right side. She wore a pair of dark brown, high-heeled leather boots with buckles. She also donned a number of accessories, such as a bracelet with black roses as decoration, accompanied by black gloves and necklaces. Finally, she wore a beret of a darker brown and a pair of black, wire-rimmed aviator sunglasses as well as having a black shoulder bag with gold studs, which is held by a strap. Once she was done brushing her clothes, the girl looked at him with her sunglasses covered eyes before talking.

"It's alright. You didn't get much dirt on me. Otherwise, you'll be screaming for mercy right now." Said the girl while placing a hand on her left hip, smiling a dangerous smile, making the boy gulp. His reaction caused her to laugh. "Relax, kid! I was only joking." Said the girl while laughing. After a few seconds of laughter, the girl held out her hand. "Names Coco, leader of team CFVY." The boy shook her hand after a few seconds of hesitation.

"Names Jack. Jack Ryder." Said the boy, causing Coco to raise an eyebrow at the non-color associated name. It was rare for parents, if ever, to not name their kid after a color or at least associated with one. This one was unique. She liked that in a person.

"Jack, huh? What's with the name?" Asked Coco.

"Well, my parents wanted me to be unique from all the others. Plus, they felt that it was a good name for me. That, and my mom didn't like the whole naming after a color thing." Explained Jack. This explanation caused Coco to become even more interested in the boy.

"I see." Said Coco. "Well enough of that. I take it that you're here for the Vytal festival, right?" Seeing him shake his head, Coco continued. "Good, cause if you were, you'd better hope that you wouldn't have to face me in the tournament. I don't go easy on people. Especially not one as cute as you." Teased Coco, causing Jack to blush. "You want me to show you the dorm you're going to stay in?"

"Yes." Said Jack, still blushing. Coco chuckled at the boy before grabbing his hand and dragging him to the dorm that houses all the exchange and visiting students. As they were walking, Jack couldn't help but admire Coco for her looks. She was immensely attractive to look at. Her attire and hair style was gorgeous in his eyes. Plus, the way she handled herself showed confidence in her abilities. All what a guy can want in a woman.

"Well, we're here." Said Coco as the two stopped in front of the dormitory in question. "Just go up to the front desk, show them your credentials, and they'll hook you up with a room. Okay?" Asked Coco as she looked back at Jack.

"Okay. So, when will the Vytal festival start?" Asked Jack as he arrived a bit early than most. He wanted to get to know some of the people in Beacon and hopefully make some friends along the way.

"In about four to five weeks. You got here a lot earlier than most." Commented Coco. "Wanted to eye the competition for someone or your team?"

"No, I actually don't have a team. I choose go solo instead of being on a team." Explained Jack, causing Coco to raise an eyebrow at that. She was honestly surprised with this revelation. Jack seemed like a guy that can get along with most people and to hear that he choose to not join a team was a shock to her. It also meant that he can only live in one kingdom.

"You're from Atlas, then?" Asked Coco. Seeing him nod, she chuckled. "I didn't see that coming. You don't seem like the usual Atlas citizen."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Said Jack, remembering all the looks of shock and perplexment he got from people when they heard that he was from Atlas, the kingdom known for its militaristic views and culture.

"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Commented Coco before lowering her sunglasses, allowing him to see her brown eyes. "I like that." With that, she went up to his personal space. "Maybe we should get to know each other more." Said Coco in a seductive voice, making Jack's face to go red.

"W-w-well t-t-that sounds alright." Stuttered Jack as he tried to control his blush. "J-j-j-just give a c-c-c-call and we'll meet up." Coco just laughed at the boy.

"Easy there, tiger. I'm just messing with you." Said Coco before taking a step back. "Still, getting to know you sounds great. I'll give you my number so we can chat up more." With that, Coco gave him her number and after making sure that he remembered it and wrote it down, she left him with a satisfied smile on her face. Once she left, Jack let out a sigh of relief.

"That woman is both amazing and crazy. What a winning combo." Said Jack sarcastically before going into the dormitory. After getting a room with a single room, signing in, and putting his stuff in his room, he began to walk to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat. He was just minding his own business when a mob of people suddenly left the mess hall in a panic. Curious, Jack went inside to see eight beacon students having a food fight. A very messy and violent food fight. He also spotted the two guys he saw earlier in the mess hall as well, just staring at the madness that was happening. He joined them and greeting them. They simply gave a wave to signify they heard him and so the three proceeded to observe the food fight that was happening before them. The contenders of the food fight were knocking each other down left and right, using various foods as a type of weapon. One girl was using turkeys as gloves while another used a sword fish. It was maddening. Only a few minutes passed and three girls were taken out, leaving one against four others. The remaining girl, however, stayed calm and just used her semblance to speed right up to the group before her. This resulted in a vortex that sucked all the food in the area as well as taking all four opponents with her. She stopped near the end of the room before dashing to safety as her four opponents slammed into the wall, cracking it immensely. It didn't stop there, however, as all the food came crashing down on them, completely covering them in food matter and the like. The three bystanders just looked at this in shock before the monkey faunas smiled.

"Told you these guys were awesome." Said the faunas, looking at his partner, who, unfortunately, was covered in soda. He glared at his friend just before a blond woman with green eyes and a wand marched inside the mess hall. She growled in irritation before using her wand to clean everything up. Tables were going back to their rightful place, food was being restored, and even the cracks in the wall were fixed. Once she was finished, the woman looked at the ones responsible before starting to reprimand them. The three decided that was their que to leave and so decided to leave before they could get in trouble. As they were walking and as the blue haired student was complaining about his clothes, the monkey faunas started to converse with Jack.

"So, who are you?" Asked the monkey faunas to Jack after the three found a bench to sit on.

"Jack Ryder. I'm from Atlas and I'm here as a transfer student for Beacon academy. I wanted to see what makes Vale different from Atlas with my own eyes." Explained Jack.

"That's cool. If a bit nerdy." Said the monkey, slightly offending Jack. "Names Sun, by the way. And this guy is Neptune." Said the faunas while also pointing to his blue haired friend, who waved his hand in response. "We're here from Mistral to compete in the Vytal festival. You're here for that too?"

"Not really, I don't have a team so I can't participate in the tournament." Said Jack.

"Oh. Didn't have enough people in your year for full teams?" Asked Sun.

"Actually, I choose to go solo. I wanted to be as independent as I can. Though I will admit that there was an odd number of students in my year and that I was the odd one out." Said Jack.

"That's cool." Said Neptune, ignoring the stains on his clothes to focus on Jack. "You also don't have a name that's not associated with a color. That's pretty cool too."

"Oh yeah! You're the first person I ever met that didn't have a name associated with a color. How's it like. Are you treated differently?" Asked Sun.

"No. Most people don't seem bothered by it. I get some stares every now and then, but other than that, nothing significant like discrimination or the like." Said Jack.

"That's good." Said Neptune. "So, can we all go somewhere else before someone sees this." He pointed at his stained clothes, causing Sun and Jack to laugh.

"Alright, you big baby. Let's get you to the dorm so you can clean up." Said Sun, getting up with Neptune. "Hope we see each other again, Jack. You seem cool." Said Sun as the two left. Jack just smiled before waving goodbye.

"This is going to be a good year." Thought Jack as he leaned back on the bench.

* * *

 **New OC by the way. Felt Bridge was a little ridiculous. Also, What are you're takes on the color naming rule in RWBY?**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

 ** _"This is a very nice room."_** Thought Jack as he observed the room from where he will be straying during his time in Beacon Academy. He had already finished settling in his new home and was prepared to go and meet the students of this academy. He may even make some new friends along the way. Upon seeing the view, he was offered via the window of his room, he exited his dorm and proceeded into the library, where he can read or find some people to socialize with. That, and he wanted to read some of the books that were in the library. As he was walking, he heard the familiar sound of Atlas dropships flying around in the airspace around Beacon academy. He looked, and saw several Atlas airships landing and offloading its cargo, which consisted of Atlas students. He wasn't really surprised. He heard rumors that general Ironwood, also the headmaster of Atlas academy, was bringing a small army with him as insurance in case something happened during the Vytal festival.

Personally, he thought it was a little overkill to do such a thing as well as being concerning. Though it was supposed to be a sign of protection, it most likely be perceived as a sign of oppression and fear by the citizens of Vale. Resulting in an aura of negative emotions being cast over the city of Vale, which would bring the Grimm come storming and killing anything that gets in their way. He sighed at the heavy-handed approach of the Atlas headmaster before leaving for the library. Upon entering the library, he immediately bumped into a black-haired girl with a bow on top of her head.

"Oh, sorry miss! I didn't mean to do that." Said Jack, immediately apologizing after realizing he bumped into someone. The girl looked at the boy with an impassive look before nodding that it was alright. She then left the library. _**"Well that was…odd."** _ Thought Jack as he began to look around the library and it's contents, wondering which books to read about.

As he was browsing the books in one of the libraries' many shelves, he heard some students yelling in the 2nd floor. Curious, he went up to find several students playing a board game while several others were reading. He noticed that the students where the ones that caused the big mess in the cafeteria. He also noticed Sun and Neptune where there as well.

"Well, if it isn't Sun and Neptune." Said Jack as he made himself known to everyone. "How's it going you guys." Sun grinned as Jack walked up to the group.

"Nothing much. Just watching Neptune beat team RWBY in a card game." Said Sun, pointing to Neptune, who nodded his head in confirmation. Jack looked at the board game, and saw Neptune was currently dominating the competition. The girl with the silver eyes and red hood was comically crying as she was dead last, the girl in the white haired looked like she was concentrating hard in defending her territory, while the blond girl was looking frustrated at not winning the game. He noticed with a start that the white-haired girl was Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee dust company.

 _ **"Weiss Schnee playing a board game? I never thought I see the day?"**_ Thought Jack as he looked over to the next group, who were all reading either comics or books. "So, how's it going? I'm Jack."

"I'm Ruby." Said the girl with the red hood.

"Yang." Said the purple eyed, blond girl.

"Weiss." Said Weiss.

"And I'm Nora!" Yelled an orange haired girl as she jumped suddenly in his view, causing him to take a step back and fall on his butt.

"Sorry, about my teammate. I'm Jaune." Said a blond-haired boy with blue eyes, looking apologetic as Nora was being reprimanded by a black haired boy with a magenta steak on the left side of his hair. "This is Pyrrha." Jaune gestured to a red-haired girl, who waved to Jack. "And this is Ren." He then gestured to the black-haired boy.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Said Jack as he got up. "By the way, aren't libraries for reading?"

"Thank you!" Said Ren as he went back to reading his book.

"Yeah, but this game is so fun that we had to play it!" Said Ruby, looking excited over something.

"That, and it was the only place beside our room, where we can play it." Said Yang as she grinned at Weiss making a move, falling into a trap she made.

"I see. Well, can I play?" Asked Jack, deciding to play a few rounds.

"Sure. Just wait after this match." Said Weiss before scowling at falling for a trap Yang made.

"Want to play against me, Jack?" Asked Neptune, wondering if the black-haired boy will accept.

"Sure. Why not?' Said Jack as he took a seat, waiting for his turn.

"I should warn you. Neptune is no slouch when it comes to strategy games." Said Sun.

"No, worries. I can hold my own." Said Jack confidently.

* * *

 **Few matches later**

* * *

"What was that about holding your own." Said Neptune smugly as he took Jack's last piece of territory. Jack groaned as he threw his cards on the board. That was the fifth time in a row.

"I have to admit Neptune, you're a good player." Said Jack as he got out of his seat.

"And quite honorable." Said Weiss. "You decided to spare some of my retreating soldiers, risking them to regroup and attack."

"Yeah, well. It's not cool at attacking someone that's retreating. In my opinion." Said Neptune. Weiss gave a smile as she nodded approvingly.

"Honorable!? He wiped my entire army out with a single trap!" Complained Yang, her eyes glowing red.

"Didn't you do that to me and Ruby two games ago?" Asked Sun with Ruby nodding her head in agreement. Yang sputtered a moment before pouting and crossing her arms against her chest.

"Well, I think that's enough for today. And, it's getting late too. We should all go to bed, right now." Said Jack. Everyone nodded in agreement as they all got up and left for their dorms. Jack decided to go with Sun and Neptune as they all were in the same dormitory. As they were walking, Sun suddenly had a devious idea and grinned.

"So, Neptune. I saw you flirting with Weiss back there. You got a crush on her?" Asked Sun, causing Neptune to blush and stutter while also causing Jack to raise an eyebrow.

"N-not really. C'mon man, you know me. Flirting with hot girls all the time." Said Neptune, making an excuse for himself.

"Yeah, but this time, there was more passion and sincerity in it. Like you really like her. So, do you?" Asked Sun. Neptune looked hesitant before Jack spoke up.

"C'mon, Neptune, we're all friends here. We won't tease you or make fun of you for liking her. Besides, it's nothing to be ashamed of for having a crush on her. She's quite beautiful." Said Jack, trying to convince Neptune to confess while also wondering if he loved her. Neptune sighed before nodding his head in confirmation. Sun then began to laugh.

"I knew it. I knew that you'll eventually find someone." Said Sun. "And it's the ice queen of all people! Oh man, Scarlet owes me so much money after this."

"So, what do you plan to do with those feelings? Ask her out?" Asked Jack.

"I don't know. It would be pretty bad for her if she was caught dating someone like me." Said Neptune. "I mean, I'm known for flirting with any cute girl."

"True, and her dad will rip you a new one, once he finds out you two are dating." Said Sun, causing Neptune to pale in response.

"Don't forget her sister, Winter. I seen her several times during my days in Atlas academy. And let me tell you, she is very strict and very judging to others." Said Jack. Neptune, somehow, grew even more pale at the mentioning of Weiss' sister.

"But she is rather nice once you get to know her and vice versa. She chaperoned a mission of mine during my first year in Atlas. She was cold, sure, and strict, but she cared for the people under her command and made sure that everyone made it out. I'm sure once she get's to know you, she'll approve your relationship with Weiss. If, you are planning on dating her, that is." Said Jack.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement, Jack, but I'm still not sure if I should." Said Neptune.

"Well, it's better to try, then not try at all, like my dad said. Who knows, it could end very well for both of you. And I don't mean money." Said Jack.

"Yeah, and if you do end up with her, I'll be there to support you all the way." Said Sun as he made a thumbs up for Neptune, who smiled at the support he was getting from the both of them.

"Thanks guys. I needed that. I guess I'll ask Weiss out, but not right now. It's important to take it slow, right?" Said Neptune, getting a nod from Sun and Jack. "Great. Now, let's get moving. It's getting late." The three then resumed walking to their dormitory. As they were walking they all bumped into a group of students from Mistral, two females and one male. One female had black hair and amber eyes. The other had mint-green hair and red eyes. The male had gray hair and eyes.

"Sorry, for that. We didn't see where we were going." Said Jack as he eyed the three students.

"It's fine. Just watch where you all are going next time." Said the black-haired girl as she eyed them all with a sense of superiority in her eyes, making the three nervous. "I take it, you all are coming from the other kingdoms, right?"

"That's right." Said Jack hesitantly, having a bad feeling about these three.

"In that case, go right along that road. It'll take you where you need to go." Said the black-haired girl as she pointed to a road just right of them. The three boys looked heistatnly at each other before nodding their heads in thanks. Once they were ear-shot away from the group, Sun began to speak.

"Those three seem…odd." Said Sun.

"Yeah, almost like they're...evil in a way." Said Jack, Neptune nodded his head in agreement. "Well, in either case, let's avoid them if we can. There's something…off about them I can't place my finger on." Sun and Neptune nodded in agreement as the three entered the dormitory.

* * *

 **The next day**

* * *

Jack had just started on his homework, when he got a call from Sun. He then let go of his pencil, picked up his scroll, and answered.

"What is it, Sun?" Asked Jack as he went back on doing his homework.

"Oh nothing, just wanted to know if you wanted to…save the kingdom!" Said Sun, yelling the last part out. Jack winced in surprise at the sudden rise in volume from Sun.

"What are you talking about? Is this a joke?' Asked Jack.

"Nope. Me, Neptune, and the girls in RWBY are going out to investigate the White Fang, and why their stealing dust. You know about the recent dust robberies in Vale?" Asked Sun.

"Who doesn't. It's been all over the news in Atlas. Particularly, something about a dust freighter belonging to the Schnee dust company being attacked by the White Fang." Said Jack, remembering the news report about a freighter being attacked by the White Fang and how it was stopped by a group of first-year students from Beacon. Needless to say, it was embarrassing for the security responsible for the freighter's security that a group of teenagers did their jobs better than they have.

"So, yeah we're going out and stop…whatever the White Fang are up to, and we want you to come! What do you say?" Asked Sun.

"Well…I don't know. I have work to do, and I think we should leave this to the police and huntsman." Said Jack, unsure of going and reporting this to Ozpin or Ironwood.

"C'mon. It'll be fun. Besides, the police will attract too much attention. So, will a huntsman. But, if it is just a bunch of first-years-in-training…"

"People won't pay any mind to what they're doing." Finished Jack. "Alright, I see where your going. *Sighs* I'm probably going to regret this, but I'll come. Just tell me where to go." Said Jack. He heard some excited squeals from the other end. He rose an eyebrow at that, wondering who did it.

"Cool! Alright, since I'm going with Blake to a White Fang hideout, you can't come. And you don't seem to be the type to go pick up some files or anything like that. So, that means you'll go with Yang and Neptune to the shadier side of Vale. How about it!?" Said Sun.

"Might as well. I got nothing better to do. Besides, sounds like fun." Said Jack.

"Cool! Just meet with Yang and Neptune at the docks. They'll take you there! On a motorcycle!" Said Sun before hanging up.

"He's so easily excited." Said Jack before leaving his room to grab his weapon and combat attire, feeling that he'll need them. As he was walking, he immediately thought of something that made him stop. "Wait, if Neptune, Yang, and I are going on a motorcycle…how are we all going to fit?"

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

"This is both uncomfortable and dangerous." Said Jack as he was holding on Neptune tightly as they were racing down the streets of Vale on Yang's motorcycle. Quite fast he might add. Due to the fact that Yang's motorcycle, at max, can hold two people, they all had to squeeze together tightly to each other in order to fit. It was something that they all were annoyed with.

"*Chuckles* What's wrong? Chicken?" Snickered Yang as she drove past cars, wanting to get to their designation as fast as possible.

"No, but I am concerned about your driving habits. This seems extremely dangerous and illegal." Said Jack as he watched Yang pass a red light.

"Relax, we won't in trouble. Much." Said Yang with a smirk.

"Wonderful." Said Jack, sarcastically. He then noticed that Neptune was quiet for most of the ride. "Hey, Neptune! You alright?" All he got was a twitch from Neptune. "Well, that's just great." Said Jack as Yang finally stopped.

"Alright, you two, c'mon. My friends inside! Said Yang as she got off and entered a run-down building. Neptune shook his head before following Yang with Jack in tow.

"Neptune, you ever got the feeling that you'll die or that something bad will happen?" Asked Jack.

"No, why?" Asked Neptune, wondering why Jack asked that.

"No reason. I'm just thinking something bad will happen today." Said Jack as the two saw Yang breaking down a door and confidently striding inside. "Yeah…we're gonna die." Neptune nodding his head in agreement with gulp.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

"Uh…Yang. Is that man really a friend of yours?" Asked Jack as he saw the owner of this dance club, a man named Junior, filling a glass and then drinking it. He was saying this because this place has been known for dealing in secret government information to various criminals.

"Of course, he is! Right, Junior?" Said Yang with a vicious grin. He flinched before nodding his head. "See!" Yang, then smiled at Jack, completely oblivious or uncaring to Jack's disturbed look.

"Uh…sure. So, what do you know, sir?" Asked Jack, after the man finished his drink. The man groaned before slamming down the empty glass on the bar.

"I don't know." Said Junior, holding his head.

"What do you mean you don't know? You're supposed to know everything!" Said Yang with a scowl.

" _* **Sighs***_ I don't know what Torchwick is doing. The day you came here and trashed my joint, was the last time I ever saw of him." Said Junior.

"There must be something." Said Jack.

"There's nothing. Believe me, I looked." Said Junior, glaring at the three students. "Last time I saw him, he paid up front, I lent him my men, and none of them came back."

"So, where did they go?" Asked Neptune, wanting to get in the conversation. Jack, Yang, and Junior all looked at him like he was an idiot.

"What kind of stupid question is that? They never came back! Who is this guy?" Asked Junior, pointing at Neptune.

"Forget him," Yang then slapped Neptune for being an idiot, who then stood at attention, not wanting to anger the brawler. "Worry about me if I don't get what I want." Junior just scowled in frustration.

"I already told you everything. Torchwick hired my boys and I guess he wasn't happy with them, which is something I can relate to!" yelled Junior, glaring at his men, who looked sheepishly away. Yang stared at Junior, before leaving. Jack and Neptune following close by.

"I guess this trip was nothing, but a waste of time." Commented Jack, causing Yang to sigh.

"Yeah, let's hope everyone else is having better luck." Said Yang as the three went outside.

"If anything, Blake and Sun are having a better time. They're probably getting tons of White Fang plans and the like." Said Jack.

"You're probably right. *Sighs* Should have switched jobs with Blake, then I could have some fun tonight." Said Yang.

"You mean go in and punch everyone there until they give you what you want?" Asked Neptune with a raised eyebrow. Yang simply nodded with a smirk. "Okay, remind me to have someone else as a partner."

"Same here." Said Jack, making Yang pout.

"Oh, c'mon you big babies! Nothing wrong with cracking a few skulls." Said Yang while slamming her fists together.

"I guess." Said Jack, uncertain with his answer.

"Speaking of them, I wonder how they're doing." Said Neptune as the three got on Yang's motorcycle. As they were about to endure another uncomfortable ride, Yang received a call on her scroll. She pulled it out, answered the call, and put it on speaker.

"Everyone, if you can hear me, we need…" Blake was interrupted when Sun, full of distress and panic, yelled out.

"HELP! They got a robot and it's big! Really big! Torchwick is in it. It didn't eat him. He's like controlling it or something." Said Sun in a rushed voice.

"Where are you guys?" Asked Yang, concerned for her partner. They got their answer when Sun yelled out hurry in the street behind them.

"I think that was them." Said Neptune.

"I got it. Hold on, you two." Said Yang before swerving her motorcycle a full 180 degrees and then flooring it to catch up with Blake and Sun. And the giant mech suit pursing them. After a few seconds, the trio managed to find the mech in the highway.

"We got to slow it down!" Yelled Yang as she maneuvered her motorcycle past various cars and trucks on the highway.

"One problem. Me and Neptune can't bring out our weapons without risking falling off. We need to get off!" Yelled Jack as he held on Neptune's waist tightly.

"You're holding me too tightly, man!" Complained Neptune as he tried to stay on. Yang gave a grunt of frustration before accelerating her motorcycle.

"Then we'll just take this somewhere else." Yelled Yang as she got closer to the mech.

"What are you…OH SWEET OUM!" Yelled Jack as Yang jumped off and punched the mech off the highway. Neptune barely had enough time to grab the handles and drive them to safety before a car could smash into them. He struggled to stay in one lane as he drove wildly past cars. "Can you even drive a motorcycle!?"

"No, I don't even have a driver's license!" Yelled Neptune as he continued to drive.

"Why not!?"

"I was planning to get one after the Vytal festival!"

"Well that just…look out!" Neptune screamed as he made a tight right turn as a truck nearly ran them over. The two eventually stopped near a median that separated two opposing lanes from each other. The two then got out of the motorcycle and sat down to take a breath. After recovering, Jack got up and helped Neptune up as well.

"We should go and help everyone take down that mech. You with me?" Asked Jack as Neptune got up.

"Yeah, just let me take a break for a moment. All that maneuvering really took it out of me." Said Neptune as he took a deep breath. "*deep breath* Alright, where are they?" They got their answer when they heard missile impacts along with the occasional energy blast. They looked down to see team RWBY, and Sun fighting against the mech. Upon seeing the mech, Jack realized with a start that it was an Atlesian Paladin, a weapon that being manufactured by the kingdom of Atlas.

" _ **How did the Torchwick get that?"**_ Thought Jack in shock at seeing the machine. Last time he checked or heard, they were still in the prototype stage and were under tight security. Deciding to ponder on it later, Jack got out his weapon, a simple rifle with a retractable bayonet attachment, and jumped down to help with Neptune in tow. When they landed, they saw a fog surrounding the area where the Paladin was, which was currently using several laser sights, trying to detect team RWBY and Sun. The two then saw a blur and so did the Paladin as it fired where the blur once was, however, it missed. It then continued to fire whenever it detected something, also missing as well, until Ruby charged at it and hit it with her scythe. Unfortunately, it do much as the Paladin was covered in thick armor. She then shouted out commands, which her teammates complied, and together they fought against the Paladin, wearing it down. Jack watched this with both astonishment and awe. He was witnessing a Atlas machine, designed to fight off Grimm and the like, being beaten by a first year team. To see this happening, he felt a little undignified, but also proud. Proud that there were such strong individuals willing to stand against tyranny and fight for the greater good. After he witnessed team RWBY taking out one of the Paladin's arms, he decided to go in and help. With that, he fired at the Paladin. Unfortunately, due to his ammunition not being armor-piercing as well as the Paladin's thick armor, all he did was chip the paint a bit. Nonetheless, it inspired Neptune to attack the Paladin as well. He first fired his rifle at it while running at it, the blue balls of energy smashing into the Paladin knocking it back a bit due to the impact force, before jumping, switching his weapon into a glowing trident, and stabbing the back of the Paladin with it.

Sun, seeing his friend, jumped in to aid him. He used his semblance to summon two spectral clones of himself. They then charged at the Paladin, exploding when they smashed into the cockpit. Seeing the Paladin was distracted, Ruby yelled out another order, which Yang and Blake followed. Blake threw out the ribbon attached to her weapon, which Yang then grabbed and began to run in circles, gaining speed and momentum. Blake then began to swing her around once she had significant speed with Yang helping out by using her gauntlets as a speed boost. Ruby and Weiss then teamed up and fired several rounds that were coated in dust at the Paladin, causing ice to form around the impact points. Seeing this, Neptune got off in order to avoid being blasted or coated in ice. Once the Paladin was immobilized enough, Yang slammed her fist into the cockpit, creating a hole, so everyone can see Torchwick, who growled in surprise at this. Seeing that it was a lost cause, Torchwick then got out the cockpit, dusting himself off, mumbling about his coat. He then looked at the group of teenagers that defeated him. Yang, seeing his outside, fired a blast at him. As it was approaching him, Torchwick remained clam, seemingly accepting the blast. Just when it was about to hit him, a small woman appeared out of nowhere and shielded herself and Torchwick from the blast with an umbrella of all things. She then placed the umbrella around her right shoulder, giving everyone a clear look at her. Strangely, she had several different color for her hair. One side was brown, the other was pink with streaks of silver. She had a brown eye on her right eye with a pink one for the left, making her a heterochromia. She had a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, black gloves, and black and white boots with very high heels. Under her jacket is a brown corset, curved in the middle and at the bottom, exposing her hips. She also wears a multitude of necklaces, which hang haphazardly around her neck. She was also rather short. Even with high heels, she was shorter than even Ruby, who was fifteen. Upon seeing the diminutive girl, Roman smirked and addressed everyone.

"Ladies. Gentlemen, Ice queen." Said Torchwick, causing Weiss to yell in protest at her nickname. "Always a pleasure to meet or see you all. Neo, if you would." The short girl, now known as Neo, then made a pose. After a few seconds of this, Yang charged at the two and punching the girl. However, much to everyone's shock, the two criminals just broke like glass. They then heard the roar of an engine, causing them to look up and see the two criminals in a bull-head. Yang scowled at this while everyone walked up to her.

"Well, he's got a new henchman." Said Yang, looking at the retreating bull-head.

"Yeah. She made our plans…fall-apart." Said Weiss with a smile. Ruby giggled at this while everyone else just shook their heads or smiled awkwardly at the bad pun.

"No. Just no." Said Blake before walking away.

"What, but you do it." Said Weiss, looking at Yang.

"There's a time and place for jokes." Said Yang, scowling at Weiss for taking her role as comedian.

"Was this not it?" Asked Weiss, putting a hand on her hip.

"No, it's just yours wasn't any good." Said Yang while leaving.

"Hmph. At least I'm trying." Said Weiss while also walking away.

"Yeah, not to be disrespectful, miss Schnee, but you need to work on it." Said Jack as he walked with her. Weiss then scowled at the boy, making him flinch. Seeing this, Weiss sighed and looked at the boy.

"Fine." She said before walking away, making Jack sigh in relief at not being in trouble with her. Neptune then patted him on the back.

"You need to work on speaking with girls." Commented Neptune before walking up to Weiss, trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah, you kind of…suck at it." Said Sun as the two boys caught up to the group.

"Yeah. That's what Winter said to me during my first year at Atlas after we saved that village from Grimm and we eat at that restaurant." Said Jack, remembering her scolding him for saying things that get him into trouble among other things. Unfortunately, it seems history is to repeat itself as Weiss heard him eating with Winter.

"What!? You ate with my sister!?" Yelled Weiss, marching up to Jack.

"Yeah. We had to go and eat somewhere, so we eat at this tiny restaurant in that village." Said Jack, wondering what was Weiss's problem.

"And you two eat alone together?" Demanded Weiss, arms crossed.

"Yeah." Said Jack, unsure what she was going on. Meanwhile, everyone else was shaking their head in amusement, looking confused, or grinning.

"Oh, this will be good." Said Yang, amused at this with Sun nodding his head in agreement.

"Miss Schnee, what exactly is the problem? All I said was that I ate with your sister." Said Jack, causing Weiss to look at him in bafflement.

"You ate with my sister alone! Publicly! Do you have any idea what that means?!" Yelled Weiss, jabbing a finger at Jack as he processed the information. He eventually got the idea and blushed.

"It wasn't a date, Miss Schnee!" Protested Jack, holding up his hand. "We just had lunch and that's it. No kissing or flirting involved!" Weiss, however, was not convinced and still scowled at him.

"And did you, by any chance, have any…intimate moments with her?" Asked Weiss. The question caused Jack to blush even more.

"W-w-what!? We've never did any of that!" Sputtered Jack. "All we did was save a village from Grimm, ate lunch, and slept in an inn for the rest of the day since pick-up wasn't until the next day. And before you ask, we slept in separate beds." Said Jack immediately upon seeing the scowl and anger in Weiss's eyes. Weiss looked at him evenly for several minutes, wondering if she should believe him, when Neptune came to his rescues.

"Snow angel." Said Neptune, using his nickname for her in order to calm her down. "I only known Jack for a day, but I can ensure you that he's not the type to be forward with any woman. Heck, I'm even sure if he can even flirt with a woman without her slapping him for making an offensive remark."

"Hey." Said Jack, offended at Neptune's instigation that he can't flirt with women. Weiss looked at Neptune then at Jack before sighing.

"Fine. I'll let it go." Said Weiss, making Jack sigh in relief. "Besides," Weiss then smirked. "Winter would have beaten him to a pulp for making advances with her." Jack would have disagreed if it weren't so true. The group then resumed walking back to Beacon academy. They were half-way there when Yang spoke.

"So, this mission with Weiss's sister. Was there any scandalous things during it? I mean with her being a Schnee and all, there's bound to be some juicy gossip coming from you being with her alone." Said Yang.

"Well," Said Jack uncertainty. "Not much really. All we did was fight Grimm, eat lunch, and sleep together. That's it." Yang then frowned, wanting juicier things, before she smirked.

"So, did you two…you know…accidentally bumped into each other during the fight?" Asked Yang, catching Weiss's attention and everyone else's.

"No, aside from that one incident." Said Jack.

"What incident?" Asked Weiss, narrowing her eyes. Jack cursed at this, realizing that he had to talk or else, Weiss would stop to end to know the truth. And most likely, hurt him more for keeping it for so long.

"Well…during the flight back to Atlas, I may have…sort of…touched her intimate parts." Said Jack, causing jaws to drop. Jack then looked at Weiss, who's eyes were wide as dinner plates and jaw was wide open. He then looked at Yang wolf whistling. Sun and Neptune looking at him like he was a lucky bastard. Blake just smirked at him while Ruby was confused at what he meant. He then looked back to see Weiss drawing her sword at him and walking to him with an angry look on her face, making him panic.

"Listen, miss Schnee. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it. The transport just shook and I accidentally did it. It was completely….AHH!

The resulting scream was so loud that Ozpin dropped his cup of coffee as a result as it reached his office. He frowned at the spilled coffee before signaling Glynda to come up and clean it up as well as getting him a new cup.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **1 to 2 hours later**

 **Mountain Glenn**

* * *

Torchwick was currently smoking another cigar as he saw the White Fang grunts making bombs full of dust and then loading them onto a train they found that was still operational. He then groaned as one almost dropped a case of dust. Fortunately, another caught it before it hit the ground and explodes.

" _ **Idiots."**_ Thought Torchwick as he saw the grunts make rookie mistakes far too often to his liking. He then looked at Neo, who was having swinging her legs as she sat on a crate. Upon seeing Roman was looking at her, she pointed to a White Fang grunt trip and fall to the ground. She then smirked when another tripped over him. While she found it amusing, Torchwick saw it as proof that the White Fang were not cut out for this job. Even with the armaments he procured for them, he doubted they had the training or skills necessary to hold off any actual huntsman or huntress, which is backed up when quite a few of them got beaten by teenagers. Neo was his most skilled accomplice, but even she wouldn't be enough if a full huntsman/huntress team came, figured out their operation, and stopped it. What he wouldn't give for another competent hand. He was about to go and yell at the White Fang lieutenant in charge of this group when suddenly a White Fang grunt came running at him, yelling out something. Just as the man was about to crash into him, Roman sidestep out of the way, causing him to crash into the crate Neo was on, who jumped out of the way before he collided. She chuckled as the grunt crashed into the crate and went over it in an undignified manner. _**"Like I said. Idiots."**_ Thought Roman as the grunt got up. The grunt then began to sputter out. Roman, rolling his eyes, hit the grunt in the head as a result.

"Slow down and speak up." Said Roman, pointing his cane at the Faunas. The grunt then nodded and took a deep breath.

"My group was scavenging in the ruins here for stuff we can salvage when found something in the ruins. Something that doesn't belong here." Said the grunt. Roman rose an eyebrow, intrigued.

"What exactly is it?" Asked Roman.

"It's a giant robot." Said the grunt. Roman then groaned at this information, thinking it was the Paladins he helped steal some time ago. He was told that they will be arriving soon and thought they got here early.

"Relax kid. Those are ours. Hey, with luck, you can get to pilot one of them. Isn't that fun?" Asked Roman sarcastically. To his surprise, the grunt shook his head.

"No, sir. It's not one of those. It's completely different. Bigger even." Said the grunt. "I'll show you." The grunt then began to run to the ruins in the caverns. Curious, Roman began to follow the grunt with Neo in tow, wanting to see what it was too. As the three walked deeper and deeper into the ruin city, Roman began to wonder if this was an attempt to remove him from the equation. He was about to attack when he saw a group of White Fang looking at something in a crater, mumbling to each other. The grunt that led him here stopped and pointed down at the crater. Curious, but on guard in case they tried something, Roman looked down. His eyes then widen in shock and his mouth was wide open, causing the cigar to drop to the crater.

"Well, kid. You're right. This is big." Said Roman as he saw the half-buried remains of a fully intact machine. Its lower body was still underground, but the upper portion was fully uncovered. The machine was mostly green with some black on it's chest. Its head had a small mouth that protruded out and was a grill-like piece instead of a regular mouth. The grill-like mouth was also attached to a large cable on each of it's sides that went to the back of its head. It had no visible eyes, instead it had a black line visor that went all the way up to the sides of its head. It had a spiked, ball-shaped shield on its left shoulder while the right had a simpler shield that arched down to its hand. Even with it submerged under rubble and sand, Roman can see that it was much larger than the Paladin. At least five times it's height. Roman looked at the machine for a moment before looking at a grunt.

"Get this thing out of there and find a way to power it up. I think we just found an ace." Said Roman before leaving with Neo in tow. He looked at his accomplice, who looked at him in wonder at his decision. "Well, Neo. We needed more competent hands here, so I decided to get one that can do just that. Don't worry, I'll make sure it's restrained properly. And hey, if it joins us, we get a giant robot for a friend. Isn't that fun?" Neo just rolled her eyes as the two walked, making Roman laugh.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"Man, they're losing badly against Pyrrha." Said Jack as he observed a Beacon Academy team called team CRDL being beaten soundly by Pyrrha.

"What do you expect?" Asked Yang as she observed the fight with a grin. "She's a four-time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament."

"I know that, Yang." Said Jack. Momentarily forgoing the match to look at Yang. "I just thought they would put up a better fight. Considering how your team fared against that Paladin."

"Aww. You do know how to talk with women." Said Yang with a smirk. Jack just laughed nervously before resuming to watch Pyrrha destroy team CRDL. After a few minutes of watching CRDL get their butts handed to them by the Mistral-originated huntress-in-training, Glynda announced Pyrrha to be the winner and asked for volunteers for a sparring match.

"Miss Belladonna." Upon hearing her name, Blake ripped her eyes off her book and looked at Glynda. Seeing that she had her attention, Glynda continued. "You've been rather…docile for the past few classes. Perhaps you…" She was then interrupted when someone yelled _**"I'll do it."**_

Everyone then looked to see Mercury Black, a student from Haven academy, raising his hand. Jack also noticed he was one of the three he bumped into some time ago.

"Mercury, correct?" Asked Glynda. Seeing him nod, she accepted his request. "Very well. Please select someone to spar with."

"Hmm…I'll choose…her." Said Mercury, pointing at Pyrrha, who looked surprised.

"I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished a match, therefor it will be an unfair battle. I recommend you choose a different partner." Said Glynda, unwilling to allow this to happen.

"No! It's fine." Said Pyrrha. She then smiled at Mercury. "I'd be happy to oblige." Seeing that Pyrrha accepted the request, Glynda reluctantly allowed this to happen. As the two fighters got into fighting stances, Jack looked to see Blake was back to reading her book. He scooted over to her to sneak a peek on her book. Upon seeing it, he was surprised to see that it was full of notes about the White Fang. He then saw her nearly dozing off a bit before she caught herself. This concerned him. Enough that he nudged at Weiss, who then looked at him in annoyance.

"Miss Schnee, is something going on with Blake?" Asked Jack as he nudged his head at Blake. Understanding what he was asking, Weiss sighed before answering.

"It's about the White Fang. She's been up all-night for the past few days, studying what we gathered." Explained Weiss. "She's obsessed with figuring out what the White Fang are doing." Jack nodded his head in understanding. He then looked at Blake with a sympathetic look. He had seen something similar to this before. Not exactly the same, but similar in how obsessed he was. During his first year in Atlas academy, Jack was acquainted with a fellow student that was obsessed in being recognized. He would go to great lengths to achieve it by any means necessary, even if it means sabotaging other people's work or cheating on exams. Things took a turn for the worse, when Jack was personally chosen out of the entire freshmen class of his year by Winter Schnee, a well-known individual, both for her skills and her name, to partake in a retinue mission with her. While he was getting prepared to go with her, the student confronted him and threatened to hurt him for getting such recognition from such an important induvial and he promised to hurt him if he got any more recognition, which happened when Winter commended him for his efforts and skills to his teachers, which eventually made it to the student's ears.

He then confronted Jack when no one was around and proceeded to fight Jack. He brought his combat gear with him, forcing Jack to run as he didn't have anything with him to help defend himself. He was soon cornered and was forced to fight hand-to-hand, a poor decision as his opponent had close-range weapons. He didn't last a full minute before the student kneed him in the gut and proceeded to beat him up. He would have killed him if Winter, who came to inspect the academy and see Jack again, intervened. She defeated the student effortlessly and carried Jack to the infirmary. After that incident, the student was expelled and Jack was given shore-leave for his injuries. Now, he wasn't thinking Blake was going to hurt anyone just for having information about the White Fang and not giving it to her, but he believed that this obsession will be her downfall. Just like that student a year ago. He then heard the bell that signified the class ended.

"That is all students. Now, the dance is this weekend, but you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses." Said Glynda as everyone was leaving. As Jack was leaving, he noticed Mercury talk with the tanned girl that he bumped into along with Mercury that day. He raised a brow when Mercury looked excited with a smile, but he brushed it off when the tanned girl rolled her eyes. It was probably something he loves to do with that girl. Get her annoyed and enjoy the reaction. He had seen it before. Once he was outside, he noticed Sun was looking glum with his team giving looks of sympathy. Concerned, Jack marched up to them.

"Sun, what happened?" Asked Jack as he walked to the group. Neptune then looked at Jack.

"Blake." Said Neptune simply as he patted Sun on the back. "He asked her out to the dance, but she rejected him. Rather coldly too."

"Yeah, and she left with some nasty parting words." Said one of Sun's other teammates, who had red hair and reminded Jack of a pirate.

"I thought that was the job of the Schnee girl." Said Sun's fourth teammates, who was tanned with green hair. His vest was opened, showing his muscular abbs.

"Really?" Asked Jack incredulously. Seeing Sun nod, Jack decided to comfort him. "Well…she'll turn around eventually. You know how she is. Maybe she's just tired and wanted to get some rest."

"I guess." Said Sun with a down casted expression. "I never thought she would say something like that."

" _ ***Sighs***_ Don't let it get to you, Sun. Like Jack said, she'll come around. For now, let's just get to working on our teamwork for the tournament." Said Neptune as he guided Sun back to the dorm with the others in tow. As the five were walking, Neptune introduced the other members of his and Sun's team. The red head was Scarlet and the green haired one was known as Sage, both expressed greeting to Jack, who returned in kind. Once the group was near the dorm where team SSSN was staying, Jack left them. As he was walking he couldn't help, but think on who to ask for the dance. He considered Coco, but she and her team was out on a mission. He wouldn't mind asking team RWBY or JNPR, but that would end badly for him most likely. Nora seemed to be attracted to Ren, despite denying it. Asking Yang or Ruby would most likely have his genitals being ripped off violently. And Weiss and Blake were out the window since Neptune and Sun held feelings for them, respectively. He was considering asking a random girl, when he bumped into someone.

"Sorry, about that." Said Jack as he saw the rather short girl. She wore gothic clothing that was black and white. She had black hair that was in twin tails with white bows and she had green eyes. Her clothing was a sleeveless black blouse with white frills on the chest and collar and a black ribbon bow hanging from front of the collar. The blouse exposes her midriff, and she wears medium-length black armbands on both of her wrists. Along with the blouse, she wears a knee-length skirt fastened with a white belt. She wears black shoes with a triple tomoe emblem on the soles, with white legwarmers. He rose an eyebrow at the girl. If he didn't know any better, this girl was that the same girl that helped Roman escape, but that was impossible. There was no way a criminal like that girl would have been able to infiltrate a huntsmen academy so easily. There were so many background checks made for each applicant to determine if they were qualified for the place at an academy. At least for Atlas. Besides, even if she was the same girl, team RWBY would have given Ozpin her description, so he would know all about her. He wouldn't allow a criminal to be allowed on campus ground, right? In either case, he needed to apologize because it was his fault for bumping into her. "Are you okay?"

The girl simply smirked, placing a hand on her curvy hip. "I take it that's a yes?" Asked Jack. Creeped out that she wasn't talking. She simply nodded her head and walked up to him, making him uncomfortable. "Uhh…what are you doing?" Asked Jack as she got uncomfortably close. She soon got so close that her chest was lightly touching his stomach, making him even more uncomfortable. She then tackled him and proceeded to straddle his waist. As Jack was blushing, her face got near his, he can feel her breath crashing down on him. She then gave him a peck on the cheek and giggled. She then got off and left, swooshing her hips as she did so, while also leaving Jack a mumbling mess. Team SSSN later found him on the floor, still a mumbling mess.

* * *

 **Few days later**

* * *

As Neptune and Sun were walking down a road on campus, intending to talk to team RWBY, who were preparing the dance as the original that volunteered for the job haven't arrived yet, they were suddenly grabbed by Jack.

"Hey guys! We need to talk!" Yelled Jack as he led them to a bench. A few minutes later, they were all sitting on the bench and waiting for Jack to talk what he wanted to talk about.

"Okay. You guys know about finding me on the floor as a mumbling mess, right?" Asked Jack. Sun and Neptune nodded in response. It was a funny scene to be honest. "Well, I was left there by this short chick. She went and straddled me and kissed me on the cheek." Neptune and Sun's mouths were now wide open.

"Is she hot?" Asked Sun. Jack then nodded. "Then you are one lucky, dude. You got to teach me how you do it." Neptune nodded in agreement.

'What do you mean?" Asked Jack. "Are you saying that women are attracted to me?"

" _ ***scoffs***_ Yeah. You got to touch the privates of Winter Schnee and lived. 2nd, you got Coco, a popular 2nd year student to like you. And now, you got some random hot chick to kiss you." Said Sun, counting down the list of women.

"First off. Winter proceeded to beat me up after that incident. Second, I'm pretty sure Coco did that, just to rile me up. Same thing with that girl too. Anyway, we're getting off topic. Point is, ever since that kiss. I thought of nothing, but that girl. I couldn't even concentrate on my homework. Do I have a crush on her?" Asked Jack. The two other boys then grinned.

"Sounds like you do." Said Neptune. "Believe me, I've seen it happen."

"But it doesn't make any sense! Why would I have a crush on a girl I never meet before!?" Asked jack, not understand the lapse of logic here.

"Beats me." Said Sun. "I fell for Blake the first time I laid my eyes on her. Don't know why. I just did."

"Then love is a strange thing." Commented Jack with Sun and Neptune nodding their heads in agreement. "So, what do I do? Ask her to the dance."

"Oh! You are bold." Said Neptune with a surprised look. "If you want and she doesn't have a date, I don't see why not."

"Yeah, and besides, you don't have a date to the dance. And if she doesn't have one either, it's a win-win!" Said Sun.

"I guess." Said Jack. "What about you two? Your respective crushes going out with you two?"

"Until she stops acting all…blakey, no." Said Sun with a dead-panned look.

"And uh…I'm not planning to ask Weiss out." Said Neptune, surprising Jack.

"Why not?" Asked Jack. "You said you liked her and wanted to date her? What changed?"

"I know what's wrong." Said Sun. Neptune then made a pleading look at Sun, who ignored it. "He can't dance and he doesn't want to embarrass himself with people finding that out. So, he usually just acts all cool and rejects any offers to the dance."

"Seriously, Neptune?" Asked Jack with a disappointed tone. "That's your reason?" Neptune then nodded slowly. "C'mon man." Said Jack while raising his hands up in a disbelief pose. "I couldn't dance during my first year, yet I still went and did it. It's not hard. You've just got to not step on your partners feet and follow their movement. It's that easy."

"Well, I tried, but I could never figure out how to do it." Said Neptune with an exasperated tone. "Eventually, I gave up trying to learn how to dance and just reject any offers to the dance."

"Which is a lot." Said Sun, causing Neptune to glare at him. Jack just shook his head before speaking.

"So, you're willing to break so many hearts, just because you can't dance?" Asked Jack. Seeing Neptune nod, he sighed. "That's just pathetic and you know it." Neptune nodded his head again in shame. "Look, just have a good time. Even if you can't dance, you can still have a date. Just tell Weiss you can't dance or don't want. She'll understand. Heck, she might even not want to dance either. Just…take her out."

"He's right, Neptune." Said Sun as he saw his friend's uncertain look. "It about time for you to forget your inability to dance and just have a great time with someone, even if it's with the ice queen. I'll even get embarrassed with you if it meant for you to have a great time with her."

"And same here." Said Jack, placing his hand on Neptune's shoulder. Neptune then smiled at the support from his friends.

"Well…might as well give it a shot." Said Neptune before giving a smirk. "Besides…it's not cool to leave snow angel without a date." Sun and Jack then laughed at cheesy remark. They then got up and walked to where team RWBY was. As they were walking they heard someone yell out.

"Excuse me! Do you know where the dance will be?!" Yelled out a woman. They all turned around and instantly their jaws went down in shock and their eyes widened in shock as well. A rather appropriate response as the woman that was approaching them was drop-dead gorgeous. Her hair was a raven black color that reached all the way down to her thighs. Though most of it was kept in a braided pony-tail, some strands were free and were in front of her shoulders. Her eyes were yellow-brown and had silted pupils, a clear indication she was a Faunas. And if that wasn't enough to indicate her heritage, she also had a single white fox tail and fox ears that protruded from her head that were the same color as her hair. Her chosen attire was a red kimono with a white skirt that was dangerously short, though it did cover her nether regions. The kimono also gave exposed the upper part of her generous breasts, which surpassed even Glynda Goodwitches. She also wore arms sleeves that were the same color as her kimono. Finally, she wore red footwear and white socks with red as a secondary color. All in all, she was very beautiful. So, beautiful in fact, that most models will look at her in both envy and jealousy. The woman, seeing their reactions, smiled in amusement.

"What's wrong?" She asked in a serene and seductive voice that caused the boys…'things' to react positively. "Fox, got you tongue?" Sun then attempted to speak, but he couldn't even get any proper words out as he was too mesmerized by the women's beauty. The same thing was occurring to Jack and Neptune, who were deeply entranced by the women's beauty. She was so beautiful, that even a human, who treated Faunas like dirt, would want her. The woman was about to talk again when another voice yelled out.

"Knock it off, Ahri! We're on a schedule!" Yelled a woman as she approached. The woman, now known as Ahri, pouted and got out of the way of the three boy's visions, though they still followed her movement. It was only when someone slapped them all hard that they snapped out of it. As they held their cheeks, they looked at the person, who slapped them. The person, another Faunas, had purplish-red hair with goldish eyes that were silted as well. She had two long, pointed ears that protruded out of the hood, which had holes for her ears, she wore. Her bangs covered her right eye fully. She had face marks on her face, one for each side. Her outfit was…strange to say the least. She wore a long cloak that made entirely out of purple feathers. It was also attached to her hood. The cloak only went down her left side, covering her entire left side, but only in one angle. If one was to see her in the front, back, or the right, they could see her left side. Her right side had a skull of a species on her shoulder that none of them could identify, which had two yellow feathers on it. The skull looked like it was from a bird with a sharp beak. It was held on by a piece of rope that hugged around her cloak in the neck area. Her right arm had several purple feathers on the vambrace she wore. Though they could barely see it, there was another vambrace on her other arm. She wore a corset-like piece on her body with a waist band holding it together. All her clothing was dark in color. Finally, they saw that she wore purple wrappings on her feet that went all the way up to waist. All in all, while she wasn't as beautiful as the other woman, she was still attractive. The woman then snapped her fingers.

"Hey!" Yelled the woman, getting the boys attention. Seeing that she had their attention, she spoke. "If you're done drooling over my friend, can you please tell us where the dance is being held?" The woman said with annoyance. The boys then looked at each other, wondering if they should tell them, before Jack spoke up.

"It's in that building over there." Said Jack, pointing to a large building some distance away. "If I may ask, why do you want to know?" The woman looked like she was annoyed at the question and was about to make a nasty response, when Ahri stepped in.

"Forgive my friend here. She's not good with people." Said Ahri, stepping in the boy's view again. The other woman looked annoyed at the comment, but kept quiet. "As for why we're asking. We're here as entertainment for the dance." The boy's mouth were wide as shock at this. Seeing this, the other woman rolled her eyes.

"We're not strippers, you hormone-driven idiots." Said the woman. This caused the boys to glare at her. "My friend and I, along with two others, are just bodyguards. For her." She then pointed to a woman close by. The woman had a flowing blue dress that fully covered her, except for her shoulder and upper chest. Her hair was light blue and was in twin tails that seemed to float. Her eyes were a similar color. What she carried, though, was something that caught their attention more. The instrument on her hands was unlike anything they had ever seen. It was a string-based instrument that looked it was from Mistral with how beautiful it was, but it didn't have as many strings, only having three. They chalked it up to a personal preference. "See that woman?" The boys nodded. "She's performing. And to do that, we need to know where the dance is. So, would you kindly show us or do we have to find someone else?" Asked the woman rudely, making Jack and Sun glare at her.

"Look lady. How about you, get whatever thing is in your butt, pull it out, and ask more nicely." Said Sun. "What's your deal? Got a problem with us?"

"Yeah, I got a problem." Said the woman, jabbing a finger at Sun's abbs. "Three teens wasting my time."

"Well, you got what you wanted. So, why don't you just leave us alone?" Demanded Jack. The woman then glared at Jack before leaving. Once she left, Ahri made an apologetic smile.

"I'm so sorry about that. She's normally not like this." Said Ahri.

"What's her problem?" Asked Jack, scowling at the retreating woman. "We gave her what she wanted, yet she continued to be rude to us."

"Well, we had some troubles along the way." Explained Ahri.

"Humans making fun of you?" Asked Jack, thinking that a couple of humans made racist comments on them.

"Yes. She also caused some problem herself when some Faunas made some…advancements on her and me. And then picking fights with random Faunas when they made…comments she didn't like." Said Ahri.

"What, she doesn't like Faunas?" Asked Sun incredulously. "Why? She's a Faunas too!?" Hearing this, the woman marched back to them and glared at Sun.

"Listen here, kid." Said the woman. "I. Am. Not. One. Of. You. GOT IT?!" With that she stomped away, eager to find something to calm her down. Seeing this, Ahri sighed to herself in frustration.

"I have to go. Help her calm her down." Said Ahri before giving a kind smile. "Hope to see you all in the dance. It'll be great." With that, Ahri chased her friend, who was talking to the blue-haired woman. With their distraction out of the way, the boys left the area.

"That woman was harsh." Said Neptune.

"Yeah. What's her problem? We gave her what she wanted and she still was a bitch." Said Sun, angry at the woman's attitude.

"At least Ahri was nice." Said Jack, also angry at the woman's attitude. Hearing her name, Neptune stopped.

"Hold on." Said Neptune. "Ahri is a name without any association with a color, right?" Sun's and Jack's eyes widen in realization.

"You're right. It isn't." Said Jack.

"Guess there was some people that wanted to break the whole 'name your kid after a color' tradition." Said Sun.

"Yeah." Said Jack. After this realization, the three began to walk away.

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

" ***Sighs*** Okay, Jack, just ask nicely and carefully. She'll go out with you." Said Jack as he was near the approaching the dorm room where the girl from before was. It took him several long hours of digging up and pleading, but he managed to figure out where the girl was living in. She was, to his surprise, the same team Mercury was in. While that rose an eyebrow, he brushed it off. After taking another sigh, he knocked on the door and got out the bouquet of flowers he bought. As he was waiting nervously, he began to question what he was doing.

" _ **This is stupid."**_ Thought Jack as his legs were shaking. _**"I should just forget all this and just go alone to the dance. After all, nothing wrong with going alone. Neptune is probably doing it too."**_ As he was second guessing himself, he didn't hear the door open until someone coughed. He was then brought back to his senses and saw Mercury, who was smirking in amusement.

"Something you need?" Asked Mercury.

" _ ***coughs***_ Yes. Is the short girl in your team here?" Asked Jack before mentally slapping himself. _**"Short girl!? You idiot!"**_ As he was mentally scolding himself, Mercury was laughing at the description of his teammate. He then yelled in his room, and soon, the girl Jack met before appeared a hand on her hip. Seeing her, Jack looked at her.

"Excuse me, miss, but can I ask you to the dance?" Asked Jack, offering the flowers to her. The girl rose an eyebrow, before smirking and taking the bouquet. She then smelled the flower before smiling at the boy. "So, is that a yes?" The girl then smirked before throwing the bouquet at Jack. While he was shocked by this, she pounced on him again and kissed him. She then held a finger and went back inside. After a few minutes of waiting and enduring Mercury's laughter, the girl came back in a modest dress. She then grabbed Jack's arm and began to drag him along. Meanwhile, Mercury was laughing.

"Oh man." Said Mercury, holding his stomach. "That was something I needed to see." With that he went back inside to get his tux. After a few minutes, the pair was soon at the dance, drinking punch with Ruby and Jaune. The four were standing idlily when Jaune spoke.

"You guys came to the punch bowl to skip the dance?" Asked Jaune.

"Yup." Said Ruby.

"Nope. She just dragged me here." Said Jack, nudging his head at the girl drinking punch before him.

"Well, at least you got a date." Said Jaune.

"You don't?" Asked Jack.

"Nope. That went down when Neptune asked Weiss to the dance." Said Jaune, pointing at Neptune making a joke and Weiss laughing at it.

"Oh. Sorry about that. I kind of helped with that." Said Jack, feeling sorry for his friend.

"Eh. It's alright. You didn't know. Besides, after a few rejects, you get used to it." Said Jaune, acting nonchalant on the whole thing.

"Still." Said Jack. "What about your team? Ren and Nora went together?"

"Yup." Said Jaune, pointing to Ren holding Nora back from eating candy, who was protesting at this.

"What about Pyrrha?" Asked Ruby.

"Eh. With her rep, she's bound to have tons of dudes after her." Said Jaune. Jack then felt a nudge. He looked to see his dance partner pointing at Pyrrha, who was walking up to the next floor, looking all glum.

"I don't think so. Look." Said Jack, pointing at Pyrrha. Seeing his partner like that, Jaune felt worry.

"Hold my punch." Said Jaune, giving his glass to Ruby, who hen proceeded to drink it.

"So…want to dance?" Asked Jack, looking at his date. She simply smirked before dragging him to the dance floor. "Just so you know, I can't dance well." The girl simply smirked again before making the first step. The two first did slow-dancing with Jack careful at not stepping on her feet. Soon they increased the rhythm. Eventually, they were at the pace with the rest of the dancers. As they were dancing, the girl was smirking, obviously enjoying this. As Ruby watched her friend have a great time, with a smile on her face, she left the punch bowl, wanting to meet up with Yang, who she saw on the 2nd floor. After reuniting with her sister, the two shared a conversation. They laughed, giggled, and had a great time talking with each other. They soon retired to watching the people dance.

"We needed this." Said Yang.

"Yeah, you did a great job planning all this." Said Ruby, praising her sister.

"Aw, thanks." Said Yang, grabbing her sister by the neck, who protested by flaying her arms up and down. "But the boys helped out too. They deserve some credit." Yang then sighed. "I guess after this. We'll go back to investigating the White Fang."

"Yeah, but we'll be ready for anything thrown at us." Said Ruby with a smile. They then heard laughing coming from below. They looked down and what they saw shocked them. "Except for that." Commented Ruby as Yang tried her hardest not to laugh.

"Oh my god." Said Jack as he saw Jaune walk to the dance floor with a dress. Meanwhile, his date was giggling to herself, amused at what she saw. Jack then saw Pyrrha holding Jaune's hand. The two then looked at each other before beginning to dance. Soon, Nora and Ren joined in. Soon after that, everyone else with a partner, san Weiss and Neptune began to dance. Ozpin, upon seeing all this, smiled at the joy and happiness before him. He then soon felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see a blue-haired woman before him. He rose an eyebrow at the woman, she wasn't on the guest list. He was about to ask her a question when she held a piece of paper with writing on it. Curious, he took it and read it. After finishing the letter, he looked back at the woman and nodded his head.

"Why not." Said Ozpin. "It would be terribly rude of me to not allow you to play, just because you were a last-minute hire." The woman then smiled before bowing her head in thanks. She then proceeded to the DJ stage with another woman with black hair in red and silver armor in tow, who strangely carried a large blade with her and had a strange metal object on her back. The black-haired woman then asked the DJs to leave, who looked confused, but complied. She then took a mike and spoke into it, catching everyone's attention.

"Excuse me." Said the woman. Seeing that she had everyone's attention, she spoke. "I'll keep this brief, we've been hired to provide entertainment for you all. Before any of you ask, I don't mean that." Said the woman. She then saw Ahri, at the upper floor, smirking at her. She rolled her eyes before continuing. "My friend here," She then motioned the blue-haired woman to step forward, which she did. "will be playing for you all. I'm sure you all will enjoy her music very much. Her name is Sona and she will be playing a song she made called 'the Song of Celerity'." With that the woman got off stage, leaving Sona alone. She then brought out her instrument, which piqued the interest of several students of Mistral, upon seeing the music piece. She then took a deep breath, before beginning to play. Almost instantly, everyone was amazed at the incredible music coming from the string instrument. It was like hearing your favorite smoothing sound, but multiplied by a thousand. The music she was playing was like heaven. As she was playing her song, Ruby and her sister were staring at her in awe like everyone else.

"It's so beautiful." Said Ruby as she heard the music. Yang nodded her head in agreement. "So, did you hire her?"

"No." Said Yang. "I guess, Weiss did. This looks like something she would do." They were so entranced by the music that they didn't hear the clicking of heels approaching them, only doing so when they heard a woman's voice.

"Yes. She is talented. Is she not?" Asked a woman. They turned around and saw a woman with long, dark hair that framed her beautiful face and went down to her lower back. Her eyes were silted and were violent. Her skin was flawless pale color. Her ink black dress went all the way down to her knees, showing no skin. They did see that she wore high heeled boots, though. They also noticed that she had a tattoo of a snake swallowing it's tail below her collarbone. The dress she wore was hugging her buxom figure in ways that would stoke the fires of the lust of men while also giving a generous view of her cleavage. Speaking of her breasts, Yang was looking at them in jealously as they were larger than hers. Seeing this, the woman laughed. "Something caught your attention, miss?" Asked the woman, placing her arms under her bust.

"Not really." Said Yang with a forced smile. The woman chuckled at this. She then smirked at the sisters.

"So, what do you think of, Sona?" Asked the woman.

"Her music is just so…magically." Said Ruby, her eyes widen in excitement. "How does she do it?"

"Yeah. It is." Said Yang, looking back at the musician before looking at the woman. "Are you her manager or something?"

"No." Said the woman. "Just a friend that helps protects her whenever she's in trouble."

"So, a bodyguard." Said Ruby.

"Along with several others." Said the woman. The three were silent for a moment until Ruby broke it.

"So…what's your name?" Asked Ruby.

"Solaris." Said the woman.

"That's a pretty cool name. The name is Yang." Said Yang, eyeing the woman carefully as something about her seemed off.

"Ruby." Said Ruby. "Did you come here to talk with us?" Solaris simply shrugged.

"Maybe. I'm just waiting for someone to finish whatever they were doing, so we can dance." Said Solaris.

"Your date?" Asked Yang, silently congratulating what sap managed to land a date with this lady.

"Among other things." Said Solaris with a smirk. "He should be done soon."

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **Blue one**

 **Atlas ship**

* * *

In the large confines of an Atlas ship's bridge. The woman that caused some trouble for Sun, Neptune, and Jack was currently accessing the bridge's central computer. As she was hacking into the database, she heard the sound of a door being opened. She then spun around, a glowing purple feather appearing in her hand that came out of nowhere, and was about to attack until she saw who it was. The person was an armored humanoid being. Easily seven feet tall and fully, completely clad in power armor. The armor was dark green and pure black, alternating in smooth yet bulky plating that covered the chest, arms, legs…basically everything. There were little light green lights here and there on its armors chinks and edges. Its helmet was covered with the same, green plating, but its visor was golden. If one didn't know any better, they would think this was a machine, but the woman knew who it was. Upon seeing the person, She sighed before getting back to what she was doing, the feather disappearing into thin air.

"Are you done, yet?" Asked the person in armor. "We got two minutes. Tops." The woman, upon hearing the military talk, rolled her eyes.

"Relax, I'm almost done." Said the woman as she finally finished hacking the terminal, smirking when she did so. She then got out a small data disk, inserted it into a slot in the computer. After hearing a beep, she took it out and walked away from the bridge. "We're done here. Let's go to that boring party." With that, she went into the air, her cloak covering her entire body, before going disappearing into a flurry of feathers. The armor-wearing person just stayed silent before suddenly disappearing.

* * *

 **Back at the dance**

 **Few minutes later**

* * *

Meanwhile, as that was happening, Solaris and Yang were talking with each other. Ruby, having have enough of the party, decided to leave, but not without telling Solaris that her friend was wonderful. After she left, the two remaining females began to converse with each other. "Well, it's been fun with you and your sister, but I have to leave." Said Solaris when she saw a large man entering the building.

"Your man is here, I take it." Said Yang with an insufferable grin. Solaris simply smirked before leaving. As she was leaving, Yang looked at the woman in jealously.

 _ **"Man."**_ Thought Yang as she watched Solaris walk. Her hips swooshing in perfect tandem with each other. **_"She's got everything. I feel like I'm losing here. Then again, I'm still growing. Who knows how…'mature' I'll get."_** Thought Yang with a grin. Meanwhile Jack was telling a joke to his date, who was giggling to some of the things he said. He was about to get refreshments when he bumped into someone.

" _ **Okay. This is getting annoying."** _ Though Jack as he looked at the large man he bumped into. **_"Though, this is new."_** The man was intimidating. He was taller than everyone in the room, even Ironwood. People would be looking at him, if it weren't for the music happening right now. He had several scars on his face, some larger than others, with one large slash mark on the right side of his face. It went down from his cheekbone to his lower jaw. His blue eyes were hard and cold. Like that of a soldier. His brown hair was a bit messy, but was still acceptably well-kept. The man looked at Jack for a moment before speaking.

"Something wrong?" Asked the man in a deep voice. Hearing the voice, Jack snapped at of his fear and stood attention.

"No, sir. I'm just…surprised at your height." Said Jack. "I'm sorry for bumping into you. It won't happen again." Said Jack. He then saluted the man before leaving for the refreshment table. The man looked at the retreating boy before walking away. He didn't even take a few steps before a woman's voice called him.

"Scaring kids again, John?" Asked Solaris as she went up to the man. John then looked at her.

"It's something that can't be helped." Said John simply as he looked away. Solaris smirked before offering her hand. John still didn't look at her for a minute, but he eventually took her hand when people were beginning to dance with others. They then began to dance with the other dancers. Sona, upon seeing this, began to play dance music.

"How'd it go?" Asked Solaris as she led.

"We won't know until we get through all the data." Said John as they danced.

"That boy, though." Said Solaris, nudging her head to Jack, who was dancing with the one called Neo. Nothing got past her. Even someone as slobbery as that one. "Should we worry for him?"

"No, yet. The girl seems to like him." Said John, watching the two with discretion. "If she does do anything to him, it's not up to us to deal with it. We have a mission to do."

"Really?" Asked Solaris with a raised eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"No, but we have a job to do. Besides," John then looked at the members of team RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN. "He's got enough back-up."

"That he does." Said Solaris in agreement. She then smirked. "Although, they could end up like us. After all, we weren't best buds at first, after all."

"Perhaps. And there is no us." Said John. Solaris then gave him a fake hurt look before smirking and giving him a peck on the cheek.

"Whatever you say, John." Said Solaris as the two continued to dance. As they were dancing, John noticed the one called Mercury dancing with a woman with black hair. The one identified as the one that took the Fall maiden's powers, Cinder Fall. **_"Looks like they succeeded in what they wanted." Thought John. "But the question is, do they know what's coming?_**

* * *

Mountain Glenn

* * *

Meanwhile, the White Fang were watching in awe as the machine was repairing itself on its own. They had just managed to dig it out, clean it, and then tie it up when the thing suddenly became active. A wire soon emerged from the machine and attached itself to one of spare crates of dust they have. Incredibly, the thing was absorbing the dust crystals, sucking them dry and leaving them empty husks of what they used to be. As this was happening, Roman grabbed one of the dust crystal the machine absorbed of it's energy. The crystal used to be a glowing red crystal. Now, it was a dull white, as if the life in it was sucked out of it. He then noticed the machine was done using the dust crystals when the wire went back inside the machine. They then heard a rumble and soon a red optical camera appeared out of the black visor of the head. It camera looked around it's surroundings before the machine got up, ripping apart the binding that held it down. As it did this, the White Fang grunts aimed their weapons at it with the Paladins they had aiming their guns as well. Though Torchwick suspected that none of their weapons would scratch the armor of this thing. The machine then stared down on the people surrounding it, noticing that a great deal of them were afraid. It then look at the leader, afraid, but in control. It then scanned the man with a red light, bathing him in it. The White Fang, seeing this, got ready for a fight, but Torchwick ordered them to stand down. Upon finishing this, the machine kneeled down at Roman. The two looked at each other before Roman spoke.

"Welcome to the living, robot." Said Roman in a cheerful voice. The robot then tilted it's head in confusion. Roman then smirked upon seeing this. "I know you're confused and all, so I'll try and make this simple. Me and these people," Roman gestured toward the White Fang grunts. "Helped saved you. We dug you out of a hole in the ground and helped brought you back to life because it didn't feel right for such a thing like yourself to go to waste. And now, you're here, back in the living. What do you say?" The robot still tilted it's head, unsure of what to do. After sometime passed, the robot held out a large hand in thanks, which Roman then slapped. "I'll take that as a thank you." Said Roman with a smile. "Now, I don't know about you, but from where I come from, someone, who was saved by another, owes that person that saved them a favor." As Roman was walking along, the robot was nodding it's head in understanding. "So, since I saved you, you owe me a favor. Got it?" Seeing the robot nod, Roman made a smirk. "This is going better than I thought." Thought Roman as the robot was looking at him. "Well, I'm cashing that favor now. And I want you to help defend this place from whatever that attacks it while also ensuring that whatever I'm doing goes smoothly. Got it?" Seeing the Robot nod again, made Roman smile. "We have a deal then?" The robot then nodded again. "Excellent!" Said Roman with a cheerful tone. "Now, I got this little...pest problem over there." Said Roman, pointing to a large cave entrance that was blocked off by large crates and debris. "These pest have been hindering my operation, lately. Would you kindly go and take care of them. All of them." The robot then nodded.

It then went to it's full height and, to everyone's shock, a gun appeared in it's hand from out of nowhere. The machine then walked to where Roman was pointing to, tremors being made with each step it took. After Roman shook off his shock, he grinned and lit his cigar. "This ought to be good." Said Roman as he watched the machine go into the cave, surprising him that it fit, given it's size. "Well, if it dies, we could always seal it off. If it lives, then we got ourselves a secret weapon." Said Roman before inhaling the smoke of his cigar.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Grimm infested cave**

* * *

The machine that Torchwick had awakened was currently marching inside the cave that Torchwick wanted him to clear out. It's various detection equipment was searching for any of the things that Torchwick had told it to exterminate. Upon remembering the organic, the machine felt a hint of gratefulness. Most organics it had seen during it's long operating time had tried to deactivate him permanently or strip him for parts. This organic didn't do that. Rather, he saved it and brought him to operational capacity. That was something it was grateful for and it was eager to return the favor. When the organic offered him an opportunity to repay the organic, the machine instantly complied and did what the organic requested, though it did wish that it was provided with information on the enemy. For all it knew, the enemies he will be facing will overcome his defenses and armor and tear him apart. Still, it wouldn't have mattered. It was programed to obey orders and that was what it will do. Upon hearing the sound of falling rocks, the machine turned around and fired at where the noise originated from, lighting the whole cave in green.

The weapon it had, a rather odd design, didn't fire a traditional projectile, rather it fired a beam of green energy that almost instantly hit its mark with insane amount of destructive force, completely obliterating the area and creating a sizeable crater from where it impacted. The resulting blast caught the attention of the inhabitants of the caves and they began to growl and hiss at the large machine. Detecting large amounts of movement on its radar, the machine instantly got ready for a fight while silently calculating the odds of survival and success based on the number of foes, which were a lot. The consensus was finished as soon as it started and the machine concluded that it will not survive this fight. Nevertheless, it will die trying to complete the debt it had with the organic. When it saw the enemies that was rapidly approaching it, it blinked in confusion, processing the new information it had on its opponents as they clawed, bit, or tackled his legs, which were enormous compared to them. The beings he saw right now were significantly smaller than what it predicted they would be. Heck, the largest didn't even reached it's knee. With this new information, along with the fact none of them were doing any real damage to his shields or armor, it concluded its chances of success were in the 99.99 percentile.

After those calculations, the machine took aim at the creatures surrounding it and began a one-sided match between it and the creatures of Grimm by firing, taking out a large amount of Grimm.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

* * *

Jack was currently studying for a Grimm history lesson. However, it was going bad as he couldn't help, but think about that group that came to the party. All of them, including the one called Sona, seemed off to him. Their names, the ones he knew about anyway, had very little, if any, association with color like his. You could defend it with the possibility that their parents wanted to give them unique names out of everyone else, but he wondered if that was really the case. Sighing to himself, he slumped down on his bed. While staring at the ceiling, Jack's thoughts wondered to the girl he had danced with. After the dance, the two had a heart-to-heart conversation. Well, he was doing all the talking, she just nodded, smirked, etc. It was a rather normal conversation. They talked about interests, hobbies, and what they plan to do after they graduate. Honestly, despite her being seemingly a mute, she was nice to be around. But then it steamed up when she brought out two tickets for a movie. They weren't for one of those cliché romantic movies, no, they were tickets for the newest entry for the critically acclaimed Sarge movies. He'd seen the first two and they were rather awesome in his point of view. She then, rather forcibly, gave him one. She then kissed him on the lips and waved goodbye. With that thought, Jack pulled out the ticket the girl gave him. Seeing that the girl was eager to go, he decided to indulge her. Besides, he wanted to get to know her more. There was something about her that seemed…interesting. According to the information on the ticket, the movie will air soon, so he should probably get ready now. Sighing to himself, he brought out his combat armor, put it on, and left for the dining hall to get a bite to eat. As he was walking, he began to see various pairs of students walking around, holding hands. He gave a smile at this, but he had a feeling of loneliness, especially since it seems he was the only one in the area without a partner.

All his life he never managed to find a girl that wanted to be with him. He was average in terms of attractiveness so no one really went to him just for his looks, especially since most of the boys in his year were far more handsome. He recalled dating a fellow student for a few weeks, but she broke it off due to her feeling that they weren't meant to be. He was down for a few days, but eventually he got over it and began to focus more on his studies than anything else. Hearing his stomach growl, he resumed his trek to the dining hall. From there, he got himself a sandwich and a glass of water. While he ate, he overheard a conversation about last night's entertainment.

"You missed the performance of your life!" Said a student as she gossiped with her friends. "There was this woman, who played this amazing song. It was divine!"

"I know!" Said another girl. "That song made me explode with emotions. It was like hearing my favorite musician playing his most famous song, but times a thousand!"

"If she's so awesome, then how come no one had ever heard of her?" Asked another student skeptically.

"I don't know. Maybe she gave only private concerts and that this was her first public gig?" Suggested the first girl.

"Or maybe Haven academy kept her a secret, so that they'll have a surprise this year." As the three girls continued to discuss this, Jack chewed his food thoughtfully, processing this information. Is this Sona a native of Mistral? It would make sense because her affinity with music indicates this. If so, then why wasn't she publicly known. Her music seemed to be very pleasing to her and her natural beauty was a bonus as well. Whatever the reason was, he had no right to get involved in her personal life as she was a stranger and he barely knew her. After taking another bite from his sandwich, the speakers in the dining hall activated and the voice of miss Goodwitch came out of them, telling the first-year students to come to the amphitheater. Since he wasn't a first-year student, he didn't need to go so he ate his meal in silence. After finishing his meal and placing his tray away, he went out of the building. As he was walking back to the dorms, he spotted several bullheads landing on the docks. Curious, he decided to walk over to the docks. To his surprise, as he was nearing the bullheads, he spotted team CFVY getting off one of them. Eager to meet Coco again, he walked up to them and greeted them.

"Well, well." Said Coco with a grin as she watched Jack approach. "Can't get enough of me, can you?"

"I guess." Said Jack. "So, how was your mission? From what I heard, it went longer than expected."

"It did." Commented Coco while walking with her team to the dorms to get some rest. "There were a lot more Grimm than expected. It took some time, but we pulled it off. Though I could use a shower right now." She then frowned distastefully. "There weren't any proper showers, especially ones with hot water." With that, Coco walked away with her team. As Velvet passed him, Jack tapped her arm to ask a question.

"Is she always this narcissist?" Asked Jack, pointing at Coco's retreating figure. Velvet just chuckled nervously before nodding.

"Just for her looks." Said Velvet. "She's gets real protective whenever her appearance is in danger of getting damaged or filthy."

"Huh? Then that must be a pain then since she's a huntress and all. Why did she want to become one anyway? A huntress's job will always get dirty." Said Jack, wondering why Coco choose such a dangerous career if she cares about her looks.

"Well she never gave a definite answer to us." Said Velvet, cupping her chin. "But I know that she's a thrill seeker, so maybe that's why. Anyway, I got to go, see you later." With that Velvet began to walk off with her team. Jack waved good bye before walking to the various bullheads so he can ask the pilots for a ride to the city. After a tedious time of asking various pilots for a ride, he finally managed to find one that gave him a lift to the city. After a long walk, he finally managed to reach the theaters. Once there, he ordered some popcorn and a soda before turning his ticket in and walking into the correct theater. As the movie began to start he wondered when the girl that invited him to this would come. The movie was half-way done when he felt his hand being squeezed. Turning his head, he saw the girl squeezing his hand with her own while taking a fistful of his popcorn and throwing them into her mouth. Blinking in surprise, he watched as she crunched the popcorn, giving him a seductive look while doing so. She then sat on his lap, straddling him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He gulped out of nervousness as she bats her eyelashes at him. He was about to protest to this when she bopped him in the hand with her middle finger before seating in the seat on his left. He looked at her in annoyance, who just smirked at him, before resuming to watch the movie. As he watched, he grew annoyed as the girl next to him brushed his hand intentionally or rubbed her leg with his own. But the coup de grace was during the movie's end when she kissed him on the forehead while giving him an eyeful of her cleavage, making him glow red. So much so, that the girl had to carry him out, giggling all the way. Unfortunately for him, while he was recovering, she brought him to a lingerie store, making him go pale. After fully recovering, he took a seat somewhere without any lingerie in sight. Unfortunately, he still got stares from all the people inside, disgusted at seeing a boy in the store. To make matters worse (In his opinion), the girl began to wear various revealing lingerie and began to show off to him, making him want to throw up. After the fifth set, he began to wonder if he should knock himself out in order to avoid all this. He was about to do it when the girl showed up with a sixth set, when he heard a gasp.

"Jack?!" Said person looked and was shocked to see Coco in the store. She then placed a hand on her hip before examining the scene before her. She then huffed in amusement. "Got someone to show off to you?" Jack spluttered indignantly as the girl before him smirked in amusement.

"You got it all wrong, Coco!" Yelled Jack. "She just dragged me here!" Coco just rose an eyebrow.

"Really?" Asked Coco, eyeing the woman before her. "She doesn't look like she can carry you."

"Believe me she did." Said Jack as he looked at Coco, not wanting to see the near naked girl behind him. He was a healthy young man, but he had no intentions of seeing a woman naked just yet. Especially after Winter gave him a lecture about stuff like this after he managed to catch her naked once. Well…more like beating him to a pulp and scolding him right after while he was barely conscious. He flinched at the memory as Coco looked at him with an impassive face. A few moments before she smirked deviously.

"So you're getting tired of her flashing at you?" Asked Coco.

"Yes." Said Jack, wanting to leave now. Meanwhile the girl behind him rose an eyebrow, wondering what Coco was planning. She got her answer when Coco flashed a grin.

"So how about seeing a different body?" Asked Coco as she teasingly lifted down her shirt, giving him a view on one of breasts. Jack spluttered again as Coco laughed at him while the girl behind him scowled, angry that her source of amusement was being distracted by this bimbo. She then dragged him away to a dressing room while Coco continued to laugh.

" **Looks like someone else wants to tease the hell out of that guy."** Thought Coco as Jack began to yell out in embarrassment in the dressing room. **"That's alright thought. I enjoy having competition."**

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **Mountain Glenn**

* * *

Torchwick sighed to himself as he lit a cigar. Neo, for a reason that made him shake his head in annoyance, decided to go out and have a date with the one called Jack. When he asked why, she merely smirked at him and teleported, or whatever she actually does, out of the cave. Now he was left dealing with all the incompetency of the White Fang grunts alone with no one to insure him that there was at least one person with any sort of skill. He was about to inhale the contents of his cigar, a loud rumble made him drop it, followed by more in a consecutive rate. Turning around in annoyance, he saw the large robot the White Fang found coming back without a scratch. To his shock, he saw it carry a large Death Stalker by the tail. The thing was flaying around, trying to use its pincers against the machine to no avail. The machine stopped before him, it looked at Torchwick for a long while before grabbing the head of the Death Stalker and then ripped it in two, the sounds of bone armor being ripped apart echoed throughout the room. It's eye flickered a little before it let go of the remains, both landing with a thud. It then spoke in a language Torchwick couldn't understand. However, judging by the dissolving remains of the Deathstalker, he guessed the job was done.

"I take it that you did your job?" Asked Torchwick, a bit disturbed at how there wasn't even a scratch on the machine. It nodded it's head before bowing with it. At first nothing was said, but eventually Torchwick began to laugh out loud. " ***Laughs*** Oh boy!" Yelled Torchwick as he rubbed his eyes. "If what you're saying is true, then you've just earned yourself a spot in this little operation of ours. How about it? Stay for a little while longer?" Torchwick just smiled when the machine just bowed it's head again. He clapped for short while before speaking again. "Perfect! Now, would you be so kind and help those morons carry that thing." Torchwick then pointed to a large container full of dust. The machine bowed before walking to the container, it's footsteps making deep thuds, and grabbing the large container. "And be careful! One drop and boom!" Warned Torchwick before walking away, lighting a new cigar. After taking a breath of the cigar, he smiled as he exhaled the resulting smoke.

" **Fortune is now favoring me."** Thought Torchwick as he began to enjoy his cigar. **"If anyone tries to stop us, they'll have to deal with the big lug. But, just in case"** He then pulled out his scroll and began texting his assistant.

* * *

 **Vale**

* * *

Coco was watching Jack as he waved goodbye to the girl he was on a date with. After getting a call, the girl frowned before telling them that she had to leave. However, just for the spite of it, the girl kissed Jack on the cheek and telling him that she'll call him before giving him her number. Coco's eyes twitched at that. She also felt relief when the girl left in a hurry. As Jack looked at his wallet in sorrow, he brought it along as usually the guy pays for everything in a date, Coco began to wonder why she was feeling this way. She wasn't stupid, she knew what these feelings are and why she's feeling them. What she didn't get was why they were happening right now and with Jack. She only met the guy a couple times and only really talked with him just to tease him. If anything, it should be Jack feeling them for her because of how many guys she's acquainted with or even dated. For her to have feelings of jealously for someone she barely knew, surprised her. Still, she couldn't help but try and justify it. The guy was reasonably handsome, not as handsome as other guys she knew, but still good-looking. He was also, based on her first meeting with him and the date she watched, he was nice and wasn't even remotely perverted. All those were good points in her book. Humming to herself, she began to wonder if she should get to know him more. The guys was alright in her book and interested her with his different attitude compared to the usual attitude people from Atlas had. Plus, it's been so long since she had some competition in her non-combatant life and fighting for the attention of a guy would most certainly prove to be a worthwhile challenge for her. Smirking to herself, she walked over to Jack, who was too engrossed in his wallet to register her presence.

"So, interested in hanging out with me?" Asked Coco as she smacked him on the back. After yelping from the sudden smack, Jack turned to see Coco with a grin that made him nervous.

"Uh…I don't have any money with me anymore." Said Jack before showing her his empty wallet, making Coco whistle.

"Wow." Said Coco. "That girl really made you burn through your money. Almost as much as me."

"You?"

"Yup." Said Coco with a smile. "If you were dating me, you would have burned through so much money that you'll literally cry and complain over how much I made you spend." Hearing that made Jack flinched, making Coco chuckle. "Relax, I wouldn't have you go bankrupt. Just really poor."

"That doesn't help your argument." Said Jack.

"True." Agreed Coco. "Still, since you're out of money, I'll cover the cost for everything else for the rest of the day. C'mon," Coco then grabbed his wrist and began to drag him away. As he was being dragged away, he wondered what Coco would subject him too.

" _ **Please be something pleasant."**_ Thought Jack as he braced for the worst.

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

"Huh. This is actually quite alright." Said Jack as he ate his burger in peace while Coco drank a chocolate shake while also grinning.

"Told you so." Said Coco after a long sip. "You really should trust me more."

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry about doubting you." Said Jack.

"It's alright." Said Coco. "Based on the rumors that I'm a shopping freak, it's no surprise you'll be intimated on going a date with me. Right?"

"Yeah. You started those?" Asked Jack as he recalled a few of the rumors about Coco. Most were how she literally purchased a clothing stores entire supply of clothes and then returned them the next day after she deemed them unfashionably or not to her tastes.

"Some of them." Said Coco simply. "Now, enough about me, what do you have on your belt?"

"Well, it's really nothing special." Said Jack before telling his entire story while at Atlas academy. Thankfully for him, he only really had a few embarrassing moments worth mentioning.

"You grouped her!?" Said Coco between fits of laughter. "How did you survive? Winter, from what I hear, is a real hard-ass and doesn't take kindly to that kind of things."

"Fortunately for me, she knew it was an accident and only chastised me for it along with a slap." Said Jack, rubbing the cheek that Winter slapped.

"Still, you were extremely lucky." Said Coco after wiping a tear. "So, are you dating that girl?" She asked casually. Jack nearly did a full spit take of his soda when he heard that.

"Wh-what?" He stammered trying not to choke.

"I was just wondering." Coco said offhandedly. "You two seemed tight for her to flash in revealing underwear to you."

Jack just rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, but honestly, I have no idea why she does so. The first time we met, she tackled me and kissed me."

"Really?" Coco asked already becoming more interested. "Then how come you're with her on this date?"

"She forced me." Said Jack simply. "Still, I guess I have a thing for her," Coco's eye twitched at that. "But, I'm still not sure if I want it to continue. It'll probably fade in a while." Coco just grinned at that. Seeing this made Jack raise an eyebrow. "Why are you grinning?"

"No reason." Said Coco, waving her hand nonchalantly. "Besides her, did you date any other girl?" Seeing him shake his head, made her raise an eyebrow. "Really? No other girl dated you? Why?"

"Well, there was usually some more handsome guy or some other popular guy that usually sweeps them away." Explained Jack. "There's also the fact that I'm not the strongest hunter in training out there, nor do I have anything special that made me unique. Why are you asking this?"

"Well you're nice, funny, and kind of cute." Said Coco as she riddled off while counting on her fingers and reveling at how much she was making the boy blush. "If you ask me you're only real problem is your confidence."

"What?" Asked Jack. "What's wrong with my confidence?"

"You were bumbling and blushing like an idiot when that girl flashed at you." Said Coco.

"Yeah, but any guy would do that when a girl does that to him." Said Jack, trying to defend his actions.

"Not with men with confidence." Said Coco. "And I can help you with that." She then donned a grin that scared Jack to the core.

"Um, just curious, how would you do that?" Asked Jack. Literally afraid on what she's going to do.

"Just meet me tomorrow." Said Coco with a grin. "We'll start small and go from there. I promise not to do anything rash or crazy tomorrow." Jack looked hesitant, but sighed. He had nothing to do and his father said to always grant a woman's request, no matter how unreasonably and stupid it was. Besides, this could help him get to know Coco and benefit him as well.

"Alright, name the time and place." Said Jack. Coco smiled at this. She then looked at her scroll, her eyes widened at the time. It was nearly time for her next shopping spree with Velvet. She had to get ready for it.

"Whoa! We should really start heading back, but y'know we have the day off tomorrow so how about we meet up and have your first lesson then?" Said Coco. Jack sighed again before nodding his head. Coco then paid the bill and the two left for Beacon. Jack winced as he saw some of the people that saw him with the girl from before stare at him as well as glare at him, thinking he was a two-timer.

"Relax." Said Coco upon seeing him tense up, figuring what was going on. "I'll try to diffuse the whole situation tomorrow." Jack was about to tell her to do it now because, by then, the rumors would have spread to Beacon and he'll won't hear the end of it, but Coco turned away and held a hand up, showing she didn't want to talk about it. He mentally cried at this and quietly wished his social life goodbye. The trip back to Beacon was silent as Jack tried to figure ways on how to salvage his reputation while Coco just smiled at this, though she did her best to try and comfort him. Once they got off the ship, Coco looked at Jack and spoke.

"Alright, meet me here tomorrow at 9 and we'll see if I can't help you improve." Said Coco, giving him a thumbs-up. Jack just nodded as he shakily went to his room. Sighing to herself, Coco smiled at the shaking teenager. She'll have to work fast to salvage his reputation if he was going to recover. She also made a note that she should help him ignore what people think about him. Tomorrow was looking like it would be a real fun day. A very fun day.

* * *

 **Mountain Glenn.**

 **Night**

* * *

Meanwhile, team RWBY was currently wiping out the Grimm presence in the ruined city of mountain Glenn. However, unbeknownst to most, they were also there, on their own discretion, they were actually looking for a White Fang hideout. They knew that a major hideout was somewhere in the Southeastern part of Vale, but they didn't know exactly where. So, they just decided to wing and hope they get lucky, which is why they're here, performing a job that shouldn't' be in the hands of a first-year team, but Ozpin, deciding to trust them, gave them the job. Of course, they had professor Oobleck with them as support and in case anything went wrong, the fact that Ozpin trusted them on this mission meant that he had a lot of faith in them. However, after fighting for the whole day, they could understand why this wasn't meant for a first-year team. Never before had they've been completely exhausted before. Sure, they won all they're engagements, but if they kept coming and coming, they would surely be dead eventually. Still, they're spirits were high and they were certain that things would go smooth sailings now. How wrong they were.

As Ruby, the current lookout for any danger, was doing her job, a hooded figure was looking at her, hidden within a ruined building so well that Ruby couldn't see her. The figure sighed to herself as she took a bite out of a ration bar.

"What's the point in watching over them?" Asked the figure to herself as she summoned a feather and threw it on a makeshift bullseye, scoring a perfect ten. The ears on top of her hood twitched as she sighed to herself.

"Because they took an assignment they're not prepared for." Said Irelia as she looked at the figure, who turned around to reveal that it was Xayah.

"You mean, an assignment that happed to be where we're at." Said Xayah. "And an assignment that they're headmaster, in an act of stupidity or cockiness, gave them despite knowing the dangers," She then went back to watching Ruby doze off. "Honestly, what is wrong with that man? Doesn't he care for the lives of his students?"

"I have a feeling he does." Said Irelia as she sat next to Xayah, careful not to allow herself to be seen by anything due to her bright outfit. "He just has too much confidence in them. Something that can be fatal." Xayah agreed as she glanced at Irelia.

"Where's everyone else?" Asked Xayah.

"Solaris and Ahri are keeping an eye on Beacon while Sona with Eliza is back at the ship, no doubt talking with Tourette." Said Irelia, saying the last part with amusement. Xayah chuckled quietly before shaking her head.

"What about Chief?" Asked Xayah. Irelia bit her lip before speaking.

"He's talking with Zorah." Said Irelia, making Xayah frown. She then threw multiple feathers into a wall, piercing the stone clean through and flying away from the city.

"That son of a bitch." Said Xayah with venom in her voice. "Why the hell did the Council assign him as our handler?"

"Don't know." Said Irelia. "It doesn't sound good from what I heard."

"Wish Solaris was here." Said Xayah before going back to watching Ruby sleep. Meanwhile the giant man in armor was currently breathing in and out as he tried to calm down. The talk with Zorah left him with a want to punch someone. He was about to go and find some Grimm to kill when his helmet notified him of a call. Seeing the I.D., he returned the call.

"If it isn't my main man." Said a metallic voice. "How's it going? You need some back up? Some money? Some weapons? How about a…"

"Listen, Strayed, now's a not a good time to call." Said the man in armor as he looked around his surroundings in case any Grimm tried anything sneaky. "Call me back later."

" ***Sighs*** Always so serious. Alright, but listen, I called because I'm worried about you." The man in armor noticed that there was some emotion backing up the voice. "You haven't reported in several months and most of your activities are so air-tight that I'm perplexed in the amount of security, even for someone like you. What's going on?"

"It classified." Said the man in armor.

"Your favorite word, John. Right up there with affirmative and no." Said Strayed. "Listen, if you need help, just ask. I'll be there as soon as I can. And don't even try to stop me. You know how important you and your team is to me. You all are some of my greatest friends. Don't tell any of them that, I'll get in trouble with some of them."

" **Damn right."** Thought John. "I'll keep it in mind. Just don't go in guns blazing when I do ask for you're help."

"No promises." Said Strayed with a nonchalant tone before disconnecting. John, having heard that, just shook his head in amusement before looking at the moon before him. He had a feeling that things were going to get complicated soon.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Ruby was quietly observing the area before her, trying hard not to fall asleep. While she was eager for a break from all the fighting, she was bored out of her mind. Guard duty was probably the most boring assignment in existence. She was about to look through her scope to see if any Grimm were coming a bit too close to the building that her team and professor Oobleck were using when Zwei suddenly barked out loud. Turning toward her family dog, she widened her eyes when she saw him take off. Panicking a bit, she sprinted off after him. Unbeknownst to her, a figure spotted this and sprinted off after her. Rushing after her dog, she soon spotted him going to the bathroom on an unfinished building. Giggling to herself, she walked to the dog.

"Seriously?" Asked Ruby as she eyed her dog with amusement. "You could have done that anywhere else." She was about to urge her dog back to camp, when she heard voices. Curious, she peeped around a corner. To her shock, she saw two White Fang goons walking away from her. Silently praising herself and her team for the luck of the century guess, she stealthily followed the two grunts to wherever their base was. After several close calls, that were totally not her fault, she managed to find the entrance to the White Fang hideout. Bringing out her scroll in order to call her team and professor Oobleck, she groaned at seeing that she didn't have a strong enough signal. Grabbing Zwei and her weapon, the two proceeded to go back to base camp to tell the others. Unfortunately, during their walk back, the floor suddenly collapsed. Ruby managed to grab onto the ledge on time, but unfortunately had to toss her weapon to safety to do so as well as grabbing Zwei. Seeing that she couldn't hold on for much longer, Ruby threw Zwei to safety before falling into the abyss. Whining in concern for his master, Zwei rushed to the camp to alert the others. Unbeknownst to him, a particular bird woman saw the whole thing.

" ***Sighs*** I knew that Ozpin was crazy." Said Xayah as she went down the hole to find Ruby. After free falling for a few minutes, Xayah landed safely on a raised platform. Upon looking at her surroundings, she let out a whistle. "An underground city underneath a city." Commented Xayah as she looked at the ruined buildings before her. She knew the reason for this. Initially, the people that lived in mountain Glenn built it as a subway to transport people from the main kingdom to the city here. Unfortunately, due to the absence of natural borders the main kingdom of Vale had including some experiments caused by some organization she couldn't care about, the Grimm attacks continued to rise until eventually they overwhelmed the cities defenses, forcing the survivors to build a underground city safe from the Grimm. At least those on the surface. Eventually, an explosion happened that caused subterranean Grimm to attack and kill any survivors that didn't escape to the kingdom. It was tragic day that even Xayah felt sympathy for the people trapped down here. The fact that no one tried to rescue them aggravated her. Though she suppose it was understandable. Based on reports on that day, Grimm numbers were far too numerous for any huntsman team can take on. Sighing to herself, she then tried to spy Ruby among the ruined remains of this forsaken city. She soon spotted her being taken away by two White Fang grunts, unconscious. Sighing to herself, she contacted her team about the situation before taking off to rescue the girl. She stealthily made her way to the goons, watching as they took Ruby to whatever base they have. Knowing that she had to rescue her now, Xayah brought out two feathers and threw them at the goon's heads. Surprisingly, the feathers punctured their helmets and heads clean through and impeded themselves in a wall, going in a few inches. As the two grunts fell down, Xayah grabbed Ruby and dragged her to safety. As soon as she found a hiding spot in a ruined building, Xayah roughly shook the young girl awake, which soon resulting in her waking.

" ***Groans*** What happened?" Asked Ruby as she held her head. Last thing she remembered was a White Fang grunt kicking her in the face, knocking her unconscious. She then saw Xayah and widened her eyes in shock. Thinking she was a White Fang soldier, Ruby attempted to throw a punch at her, which Xayah grabbed effortlessly.

"This is the thanks I get for rescuing you?" Whispered Xayah, rolling her eyes in annoyance, before staring Ruby down. "Look, I'm not a White Fang member. I'm just an ordinary girl, trying to help someone out. So just, calm down and let's start over." Hearing this, Ruby calmed down and looked at the woman before her with slight suspicion.

"You're here to help me?" Asked Ruby, wondering why this woman was helping her. "Why are you here?"

"First off, yes. I'm here to help." Said Xayah, keeping her voice down so no White Fang can hear them. "Second question is something I can't say. Just know that Ironwood sent me."

"The general?" Asked Ruby as she tilted her head in confusion. "He sent you." Xayah just nodded her head before showing her an Atlesian scroll. She then activated it to show her credentials for being a huntress. Thinking it was enough, Ruby nodded her head in understanding. "So, you're a spy?" After Xayah nodded, Ruby widen her eyes in amazement. "That's so cool. So, what are the White Fang doing?"

"No idea." Said Xayah as she looked around in case any White Fang grunts show up. "Honestly, they've just been hauling a whole lot of dust here. For what I got no idea. I suspect its all the dust that they've been taking, right?"

"Has to be." Said Ruby before getting up. "We should investigate."

"Can you handle yourself in a fight? Without your weapon? Cause I saw you being taken down by White Fang grunts with ease." Said Xayah, causing Ruby to rub her head sheepishly at the embarrassing defeat. Rolling her eyes, knowing that the girl will follow her in regardless of what she said, motioned her to follow her. "Just do what I say and nothing else. Do that and we'll get out of this in one piece. Got it?" Happy that the huntress was giving her a chance, Ruby did a poor man's excuse of a salute before following Xayah, who wondered how much trouble she'll be in with her superior. Meanwhile Torchwick was smiling to himself as the machine the White Fang dug up finished loading the train with everything they needed to pull off the plan. He sighed in content as it walked toward him.

"Train is all loaded and armed, sir." Said the machine as it saluted. "What is our next objective?"

" ***laughs*** Man, normally I'm annoyed by the gun-ho military types, but you're the exception green." Said Torchwick, calling the machine by his nickname because of how green he was. "Now, our job is to wait until the time is right, which will take a while. So, we can cut back and relax. You want some oil?" Offered Torchwick as Green tilted his head in confusion. Before he could retort, his radar immediately detected two groups of unknown hostiles coming closer. "Commander Torchwick, multiple boogies are approaching. Two are approaching from there." Green then pointed somewhere in the ruins. Raising an eyebrow, Torchwick nevertheless complies and sent some White Fang grunts to investigate. Meanwhile, Xayah and Ruby were hiding behind a ruined building when Xayah heard a mechanical voice. Once safe, she brought out a small drone that she brought along and had it scout the large open area. To her frustration, she saw a large robot that she knew all too well.

" **This job just got a whole lot harder."** Thought Xayah as she watched the machine advising Torchwick on what to do. Ruby meanwhile was both amazed at the giant robot and the cool tech that Xayah had on her.

"How'd we get that?" Asked Ruby in amazement. She then pointed to the device on Xayah's wrist that she was using to see what the drone was seeing. A holographic device that appeared out of nowhere. "And when can I get one of those?"

"To answer both questions. 2nd question, never. First…I have honestly no idea. It wasn't in the intel." Said Xayah, wondering what to do. Biting her lip in exasperation, she turned to Ruby. "Are your friends okay with the chance to fight a giant robot?" Ruby just donned a smug look in reply.

"Yeah we are." Said Ruby, tone full of pride. "We took down a giant robot before. Doing it again, will be a piece of cake." Raising an eyebrow at the girl's borderline arrogances, Xayah was nevertheless amused at her. She was…adorable in trying to act all tough. Still, she highly doubted any of them can fight this mech and win.

"Well, then you're all out of luck because we're not fighting it." Said Xayah. She then spoke before Ruby can protest. "Listen, it's not a priority now. Right now, we have to take out whatever's on that train." Her drone then zoomed in on a large cylinder-like object from an open boxcar. "It's just a guess, but I think those are bombs filled with dust. And what how much dust the White Fang stole over the past few months, there's no doubt there's a lot more inside that train. So, to do our duty to defend the kingdoms, we have to take out that train and arrest Torchwick and whatever bosses he has. You get me?" Though she was disappointed at not proving her skill in fighting a giant robot, Ruby nonetheless nodded.

"You're right." Said Ruby. "We need to focus on the mission." Xayah then nodded her head in respect, making Ruby happy.

"Look, I know you're not happy with not fighting the giant robot." Said Xayah. She then let a small smile grace her features. "So how about proving to me your skills in kicking White Fang butt." Upon hearing the proposal, Ruby nodded excitedly. Happy that she was going to prove her skills to an experienced huntress. Huffing in amusement at seeing the girl's enthusiasm, she was about to tell her what to do when suddenly a large explosion was made.

"What the…" Said Roman as he too heard that explosion. Soon several more were made. "What's going on!" Demanded Roman as the White Fang grunts looked at each other in confusion as well. Green then suddenly spoke.

"Commander Torchwick, boogies are now entering optical range." Said Green. Just then, Ruby's whole team arrived with a huntsman and dog of all things. "Sir, I recommend carrying this portion of the plan now in order to gain something out of this." As much as he didn't want to agree, Green was right. With their hidden base now compromised, something must be done to salvage the plan. Sighing to himself, Torchwick walked to the train. Neo was there inside now, so he probably has to tell her what's going on. As soon as he entered the train, Torchwick looked at Green, standing at attention.

"Delay them. Give me as much time as you can." Ordered Roman as the train started to move. As soon as the last cart left the area, Green blocked the entrance with one of his feet. He then brought out his rifle as he stared down at the huntress-in training team, their dog, and a lanky green haired man, all of which are shocked at his incredible size. He then used this shock to open fire on them. He was about to fire when his weapon suddenly malfunctioned. Looking at it in confusion and alarm, the robot then soon saw Xayah and Ruby rushing themselves toward the recently arrived group. Yang, upon seeing her sister, embraced her. After that, Ruby then grabbed Crescent rose, which was recovered by her team, and ordered everyone to fall back to the ruins, which they did after Xayah pushed them to the ruins. Just in time too as the robot's weapon restored itself and the robot instantly pointed its weapon at the group the moment it did. It fired a large blast just when the group rushed inside the ruins. The large energy blast, taking out a large portion of the ruined city, shocking all parties with the destructive power of the weapon. Upon seeing no casualties from the enemy, the robot turned to his accomplices.

"All units stay here. Our object is to delay them, not destroy them." Said Green as the White Fang grunts looked at him in shock and fear. "Stay here and block the entrance." Though wanting to get at the huntress and huntsman group, they nevertheless obeyed the robot and stood position. Meanwhile, the gang of 4 huntresses-in-training, a teacher, a huntress, and a dog were recovering from the experience. After recovering, Yang looked at Weiss.

"Uhh…. Weiss?" Said Yang as she looked at the heiress. "Did the missing military tech include a giant robot that's about the size of a six-story building?" Weiss just slowly shook her head as she tried to process what she saw.

"No." Said Weiss. "The only things missing that even remotely resemble mechs is the Atlesian paladins, but they're not even close to the size of that giant!" She then began to break down. "How did they get that!? How does it even exist!? How does…" Xayah rolled her eyes as the heiress started rambling on. Oobleck, meanwhile, stared at her in suspicion.

"Who are you?" Asked Oobleck as he eyed the faunas woman, more particularly her features. She had more animal qualities than the typical faunas.

"A huntress." Said Xayah as she held her scroll, which showed her credentials and everything. "Ironwood sent me undercover to spy on the White Fang."

"Really?" Asked Oobleck, his suspicion raised. Despite being genuine credentials, they could also have been forged. "Then why didn't he inform Ozpin of such an operative?"

"Classified." Said Xayah with a shrug before entering a staring competition with Oobleck "Look, I get it, You don't trust me and don't have any reason too. So, just trust your gut instincts and trust me."

"My gut instincts are telling me not to trust you." Said Oobleck before changing the topic. "I suppose you helped miss Rose escape?"

"You get that right." Said Xayah before activating her holographic device again to spy on the enemy with her drone.

"Then you have my gratitude for doing so." Said Oobleck with sincerity. Xayah just scoffed before focusing on the situation on hand. "Since you're undercover, I assume you know what's going on."

"Not really." Said Xayah. "Torchwick and his bosses kept everyone in the dark. Nearly everyone doesn't know what's the real plan is. But I suspect it's occurring now since Torchwick left with a train filled with potential explosives."

"Explosives?" Asked Oobleck in alarm.

"Yeah." Said Xayah. "Don't know why though. Do the tracks here lead anywhere?"

"They used to lead back to Vale, but they've been since sealed off in case the Grimm use them." Explained Oobleck. "There's no reason to use them."

"Or the explosives." Said Xayah before thinking of possible scenarios. Scenario after scenario pass through her head as she tried to figure out what Torchwick could possibly do with all the dust he had and what gains he could get. Soon, Oobleck gasped in alarm.

"Oh dear." Said Oobleck with alarm. "I suspect that he's trying to unleash the Grimm to the city of Vale."

"What?" Asked Xayah in confusion and disbelief. "Why do that? He's a business man. That doesn't seem remotely profitable."

"True, but it's the only logical explanation I have considering what we have to go on." Said Oobleck. "We have to stop that train. Otherwise, thousands may die."

"But we can't do that with that giant robot in the way." Said Blake as she looked at Xayah's holographic screen, amazed with such technology. "It's not budging and I suspect that it'll stay that way."

"It doesn't matter where it came from. Right now, it's standing in our way against stopping the train." Said Ruby as she went into a fighting stance with weapon.

"Ruby is correct." Said Oobleck as he got out his weapon. A thermos of all things. "Even if the probabilities of victory are very miniscule, we'll fight on! Because that's what huntresses and huntsman do!"

"That's correct, but how do we beat that thing?" Asked Weiss pointing to the large machine. "He's blocking the entrance and it doesn't look like it'll move anytime soon. Even if we beat it, it'll be too late." As the group looked at each other in desperation, Xayah sighed to herself, knowing that something had to be done.

"I have an idea. One that requires my…semblance." Said Xayah as the group turned toward her. "I have the ability to teleport past that bucket of bolts and possibly get on that train, but in order for us not to get turned to mush from the train, I need to know how fast that thing can go and how long the tunnel is. Do either of you know how either to those?" Oobleck just hummed to himself as he calculated the mathematics in his head. After several moments he spoke.

"Well, judging by the model of the train and if there's no obstacles obstructing it, I estimate that you can safely teleport us on top of the train in around forty seconds. That is if you can teleport that far in a several miles long tunnel." Said Oobleck. "Anything beyond that will result in having no time in stopping the train from entering Vale."

"Good enough. You all ready?" Asked Xayah as she looked at the huntress group. They all just nodded before they all grouped up on Xayah. "Alright, just hold onto me and I'll take care of the rest." With that, Xayah placed her hands on Zwei and Oobleck. The girls looked at each other before joining in. Seeing she had everyone, Xayah then teleported everyone on the top of the train, surprising everyone at how fast she did so. So much so, that Oobleck nearly fell off the speeding train, but Xayah managed to grab him and pull him back. She then looked around and saw that they're all on the front end of the train. "Alright, looks like we still got time. I don't think that they'll suspect that we made it here, so we have the element of surprise. We just got to deal with those inside the locomotive and we'll have saved the day. Ready to fight?"

"Oh yeah!" said Yang as she cracked her knuckles. Xayah just rolled her eyes with some amusement before getting ready herself. They were about to get in and fight when suddenly a large beam was fired on them, barely missing. Ordering everyone to get down, Xayah looked up to see beam after beam of energy coming at them, far way enough to not damage the train.

"Do they have another one of those?" Asked Blake in disbelief as the beams kept firing.

"No, it must have predicted us trying to teleport past it!" Yelled Xayah with gritted teeth. This really complicated matters.

"What do we do?" Asked Ruby, despair crawling inside her. "It's gonna call Torchwick and tell him we're here."

"And since we're pinned down, we can't escape or fight!" Yelled Weiss as she slammed her fist on the train in frustration.

"I'll tell you all what we're going to do." Said Xayah as she brought out a device from her person and attached it to the train. She then beckoned everyone to get ready. She then pressed a button and the device ejected several appendages from itself. The appendages then pointed to the roof of the train and lasered out a hole for them to go through. Not waiting for anyone to respond, Xayah rushed inside and threw some feathers to the front of the train. With either pure luck or skills, Xayah managed to impale the arms of the driver without killing him. She then spotted Torchwick, who was shocked at the sudden appearance, resulting in her throwing some of her feather like daggers, impaling in his coat, sticking him to the wall. As he complained about his coat, the huntress team soon entered, Xayah walked to the grunt and knocked him out with a chop to the neck. She then pulled him out, careful not to splatter more blood on the control, before taking the controls for herself.

"Can you stop this train?" Asked Oobleck as he took a position defending the door along with everyone else.

"I should." Said Xayah as she tried to find the proper controls to stop this train. "Should stop it before this reaches Vale."

"That's all great and all, but what about that giant robot from before?" Asked Ruby. "What are we gonna do about that?"

"More than likely, Ironwood would send a team to either acquire or destroy it." Said Xayah as she narrowed her eyes at the condition for the control brakes. "Great. Looks like they thought ahead of time and sabotaged the controls. I can't stop the train from here." She then looked to Torchwick, who had a smug grin in his face, as if telling them he won.

"They never planned on stopping the train." Whispered Oobleck as this information came to light.

"Does that mean we lost?" Asked Yang in frustration and disbelief. Good guys never lose.

"Not yet." Said Ruby with determination. "We can still stop the whatever they're planning. Can we seal the tunnels ahead?"

"No." Said Xayah. "By now, we're probably so close to Vale that by the time we can figure out a way to seal the tunnel ahead of the train, it'll we too late."

"What about destroying the tracks?" Asked Ruby, still not giving up.

"Same problem as before, miss Rose." Said Oobleck with a sigh. "Not enough time."

"What about…" Ruby started to say another suggestion, not prepared to give up hope, though cracks in her voice were evident, when Xayah grabbed her gently and looked at her.

"Look. There's nothing we can do to stop this train." Said Xayah. "The best we can do is helping the people with whatever Torchwick is planning." Upon seeing the disbelief on Ruby's face, Xayah sighed. "I know it's hard to accept defeat, but sometimes life's just cruel like that. C'mon, prove to me you're a huntress and get past this defeat. Huntress are fearless and stoic warriors, right? Then show me you're one now." Hearing those words, Ruby just shook her head before showing Xayah a determined expression on her face, making Xayah smirk in respect. Before any of them could do anything, the train suddenly slammed into the end of the tunnel, knocking them all out. A few minutes later, Xayah groaned as she got up. She watched as the huntress team got up as well. Upon getting out, she saw Grimm killing and destroying buildings. She looked at the huntress team as they all looked on in shock at the carnage before getting their weapons ready. Sighing to herself, she got out several daggers on her person before jumping into the fray with the huntress team, Oobleck, and their dog.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

* * *

"Where's Xayah?" Asked the man in green and black armor as he looked at Irelia, who also wondered where she was. She was about to respond when suddenly their comlinks came to life.

"Hey guys, need some help back in Vale." Said Xayah as sounds of roars and gunfire became evident on her side.

"What did you do?" Asked the man, having little emotions in his voice, but was internally annoyed.

"Tried to stop a local problem. Didn't work. I need help." Said Xayah.

"You know what our orders are Xayah. No unnecessary contact with local forces." Said the man.

"I know, but I couldn't help it." Said Xayah, annoyed. "Just come and help as best you can." Sighing to himself, the man summoned a rifle out of nowhere before motioning Irelia to follow him.

"You intend to disobey orders? From admiral Xorah?" Asked Irelia, amusement in her voice. The man just stayed silent as they walked to a ruined building.

"Contact everyone. Tell them to continue their assignments." Said the man as they made their way to the top. "We can handle this ourselves." Irelia nodded as they made it to the roof.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

" **Should I just wear my usual combat outfit?"** Thought Jack as he wondered what to do. **"Or should I just use one of my more casual outfits."** He then looked at a plain white shirt and black pants. Jack was contemplating to himself as he wondered what to wear for his get-together with Coco. He was, unfortunately, snapped out of his thoughts when he heard alarms coming form the city. Walking to his window, he saw smoke coming from the city. Quickly, he put on his combat uniform, grabbed his gun, and ran out to catch a bullhead. Along the way, he encountered Neptune and Sun, who were also running out to catch a bullhead.

"You guys heard the alarms too?" Asked Jack as they ran to the docks.

"Yeah." Said Sun. "What's going on though?"

"No clue, but it can't be good." Said Jack as they made it outside.

"Think it's the White Fang?" Asked Neptune.

"Possibly, But I don't think that they'll try something like this." Said Jack as they got on a bullhead and told the pilot to take them to the action. As they flew to the action, they spotted team JNPR there as well, on another bullhead.

"Looks like, we're not the only ones getting in on the action." Commented Sun.

"Yeah." Said Jack as he readied his rifle. "Let's hope that we don't need this many." As soon as he said that, they spotted several Nevermores arriving to assist the Grimm on the ground. "How did those get here?"

"No clue." Said Neptune as he rubbed his head. "There's no way that those can get this far into the city before huntsman are sent into eliminate them. Heck, with the Atlas ships here, the Nevermores wouldn't even get near."

"Unless there's enough negative emotions to attract them." Said Jack, remembering that lesson from Atlas academy.

"Yeah, and with the panic in the city, that must be enough to attract even the strongest Grimm." Said Sun with grim certainty.

"Then we better get this contained quick." Said Jack as he placed a sniper scope on his rifle before taking potshots at various Grimm. As soon as they got near the action, however, he quit with the sniper fire and jumped down along with Sun and Neptune. Taking off his sniper scope, he unleashed a hail of bullets at various Beowulfs as Sun took to getting up close and personal with his nunchunks/shotguns. Neptune, however, took a similar approach to Jack, firing his weapon in it's ranged configuration while occasionally changing to melee mode whenever a Grimm got too close. While reloading his rifle after emptying a clip on an Ursa, Jack was jumped by a Creep Grimm. As the thing tried to bite his head off, Jack grabbed his emergency knife and stabbed it in the head. Unfortunately, it didn't die. In fact, it only enraged it more. Just when it was about to successfully bite Jack, several feathers were suddenly impeded into it, which then killed the creature. The one that threw the feathers then kicked the thing off Jack before hauling him to his feet.

"You're not that good of a fight, are you?" Asked Xayah as Jack widened his eyes at seeing the woman from the ball. Before he could say anything, Xayah pushed him away before throwing several daggers at a Deathstalker. The feathers, somehow, managing to pierce its strong armor and killing it after hitting vital points. "Now's not the time for twenty questions. Get to fighting!" Yelled Xayah as she threw feather after feather at any Grimm that got in her sights, all managing to kill them with a single hit or several for the bigger ones. As she was distracted with another Death Stalker, a Beowulf charged at her, oblivious to Jack aiming at it. Before it could take a swipe at Xayah, the Beowulf took a bullet to a head, which caused it to jerk away from Xayah and die somewhere in her vision. After killing the Death Stalker, she looked at the dissolving Beowulf and then at Jack, looking somewhat impressed.

"Not bad, but…" She then threw several feathers behind Jack, scoring kills at several Beowulfs and Creeps. "Not good enough." She said with a smirk before jumping and firing many feathers at a similarly large group of Grimm that were arriving from the entrance that a crashed train made. As Jack looked in shock at her skills and powers, Ruby managed to land besides him.

"You saw that?" Asked Ruby, similar surprised and shocked, but also in awe.

"Yeah." Said Jack before the two opened fire at a Ursa trying to sneak up behind them. "Let's get back to work." Nodding her head in agreement, the two charged at any Grimm that made it to the surface. As the battle continue to rage on, reinforcements arrived in the form of the new Atlas combat robots, professor Port and Goodwitch as well as team CFVY, much to the relief of the combatants as they were starting to get tired form the continuous assault. Well except Xayah, who seemed to be as energetic as ever. When Coco arrived in the field, Jack was in awe at her weapon. A massive minigun, that somehow was kept in a much smaller bag, that pierced even the strongest Death Stalker armor. After running to her in an effort to talk to her, he managed to shoot at several Creep with his backup pistol before stopping near her.

"Is this your idea of a get together?" Asked Coco in amusement as she opened fire at the Grimm coming from the breach. "Because you just went up a few points in my book."

"Seriously!?" Asked Jack incredulously as he opened fire. "We're facing a Grimm invasion and that's what you think about?"

"C'mon, live a little." Said Coco as she sprayed a suppressing fire on the Grimm. "There's no reason you can't have some fun in battle, especially on one like this." She then stopped when she spotted Glynda marching toward the breach, taking out any Grimm that charged at her with ease. She then used her semblance and began to seal the breach, returning everything to the way it was before the train broke everything. With the remaining Grimm being taken out by the Atlas robots, everyone began to celebrate. Congratulating each other for a job well done. However, Xayah, who was on a roof, yelled down to everyone.

"Too early to celebrate people!" Yelled Xayah as everyone looked at her. "The real battle is coming now!" She then summoned a couple of feathers and got into a fighting stance. Before anyone can ask her what she meant, the ground started to shake. Then the recently repaired breach, opened again to reveal the machine from before coming out, getting out with ease.

"Oh yeah." Said Ruby with a nervous chuckle as everyone stared at the giant robot in shock. "Forgot about him." As the robot got out of the breach fully, more Grimm ran out and the fighting began anew, except a giant robot was added to the equation on the Grimm side. While the Grimm were relatively easy, only the weaker ones this time because apparently the strongest went first, the giant robot was making things worse. It was taking potshots at any Atlas gunships that fired at it, the guns proving useless as they weren't equipped to take on an opponent this well armored. After taking out a large group of gunships in a single shot, the remaining gunships pulled off in order to get out of range. With the air threat gone, it turned toward the ground threat, which were proving to prove effective against the Grimm. It was about to open fire at them when it's gun jammed again by an external source. It then turned toward to the source and saw Xayah firing at it's optic with multiple feathers. The first group didn't do much, neither the next four, but the sixth managed to break through and pierce it's optic. While it was damaged, the machine still had a backup optic along with various other scanning tools in case the main optic was damaged. Discarding the currently useless weapon, it got out a grenade and threw it to somewhere in the city, taking out several city blocks. It then brought out a rocket launcher from nowhere and opened fire at an Atlas airship. It then fired and the rocket blasted toward the airship, which was trying to evade the rocket. Unfortunately, the rocket was too fast and it impacted against the engine block, causing the ship to fall toward the city of Vale. Fortunately, the crew managed to steer the ship away from the city and into the ocean. Meanwhile, the students and huntsmen and huntress were fighting against the large machine, to no avail.

"JUST! GO! DOWN!" Yelled Yang as she punched on the machine's dome head, having gotten there with assistance from Blake.

"Uh…question. Why isn't this thing attacking us?" Asked Neptune as he and everyone else with a gun fired at the machine, whose armor was taking it with ease.

"It must think we're not worth the trouble." Said Jack as he fired an entire clip at the big thrusters on it's back. "And why are we firing at this thing with these useless bullets!?"

" ***Growls*** He's right." Said Coco with annoyance. "We're just wasting ammo." She then took off her glasses before squinting for any weak spots on it. "If only we can do more damage to that damaged eye of it. Then maybe."

"Don't bother." Said Xayah as she appeared out of nowhere. "That thing has redundancies in case anyone tried to attack its main camera."

"Then how do we beat this thing!?" Asked Sun.

"You can't. Now with what you'd got now." Said Xayah. "However, I can do something against it. Just give me time." She then rushed toward the machine, who was continuously destroying Vale.

"What the heck does she think she's going to do to it?" Asked Weiss in exasperation as they saw her jump to the top of the machine. They then saw her talk to Yang, who looked reluctant, but then jumped off. Everyone then watched as the machine suddenly jerked when Xayah had injected something into it's damaged optic. The machine then suddenly went ballistics, firing its rocket launcher at everything, some missing and some hitting buildings. Then, as sudden as it's random firing, it stopped and fell down, its optic shutting down. Seeing her work done, Xayah disappeared in a cloud of feathers, but not before giving everyone a mock salute. As he looked around the carnage before him, Jack wondered what the heck is going on.

* * *

 **Few hours later**

 **Ozpin's office.**

* * *

"This is exactly what I was trying to tell you Ozpin!" Yelled Ironwood as he tried to rein in his temper. "If we'd had just sent in my men, none of this would have happened."

"I'm afraid not, James." Said Ozpin, though his voice held some uncertainty in it. "The outcome would have been the same, only with more casualties on your end."

" ***Sighs*** But they would have prevented the train from breaching and perhaps even destroy that machine." Said Ironwood. He along with everyone else was shocked beyond belief that the White Fang had a giant mech robot that put the recent Atlesian Paladin to shame, both in firepower and size. The recently captured White Fang prisoners and Torchwick were refusing to answer, apparently smug and happy that their plan went better then expected, which seemed to spread fear. Which it did as many were afraid that Vale wasn't as strong and safe as once thought. Outraged at this debacle, the council of Vale, with recommendation from the Atlas council, removed Ozpin from being in charge of security for the Vytal festival and appointed Ironwood in charge. Though he would have been alright with this, Ironwood knew that it was a hollow gesture as he didn't have any answer to how the White Fang acquired such a machine or if they had more. They managed to acquire the machine from before, apparently disabled. They've been trying to figure out what makes it tick, to no avail.

"Speaking of that machine." Said Glynda. "Do you have any information about it?"

"I'm afraid not." Said Ironwood, recomposing himself. "Whatever metal it's exterior armor is made out of is so dense that our most powerful cutting tools aren't cutting through. The only way we're getting anything out of it was from that damaged optic and even then, we're not getting much. But what we have is that it isn't human made. The technology is so advanced that it can't be made by humans. Not even Atlas is close to its technology."

"So, are you saying that the White Fang acquired alien technology?" Asked Glynda, sarcastically.

"It's the only possible explanation." Said Ironwood. "I'll tell you more when I acquired more data on it. In the meantime, I have to ask the Atlas council for more reinforcement. The toll on my men on that battle was…severe."

"How many did you lose, James?" Asked Ozpin, fearful of the numbers. Ironwoods just had a pined look before answering.

"Fortunately, most of the men on the shot airship survived the crash. I have men extracting them now. But most of my gunships and pilots were destroyed. So, while the damage isn't as extensive as it could have been, it still left a large gap in air power." Explained Ironwood.

"What are you planning to do then, James?" Asked Glynda, worried for the answer.

"Well, I severely doubt that the Atlas council will spare too many troop after this, but I'll try and get as many men here as possible." Said Ironwood. "Now if you'll, excuse me, I need to send condolence letter to the family of my dead men." With that, he left, with Ozpin and Glynda looking at him with sadness.

"What do we do now, Ozpin?" Asked Glynda. "What If the White Fang have more of those things?"

"Then, we'll need to acquire information on that." Said Ozpin. He then brought out his scroll and sent out messages to several teams. " ***Sighs*** I don't want to do this, but…the greater good demands it." Glynda just sighed to herself before leaving. Soon, Jack, team CFVY, SSSN, JNPR, and RWBY arrived, wondering why they were here.

"Excuse me, sir, but why are we here?" Asked Jack as they all looked the headmaster, who just sighed before looking at them all.

"A mission." Said Ozpin. "As you all know, a giant, walking machine of great power had recently destroyed a large portion of Vale." Seeing them nod, he continued. "So, I ask you all to go back to the Mountain Glen and figure out if the White Fang have more of them or at the very least some information about that thing." Hearing this, everyone looked surprised at this. Some looked excited at the prospect at going out on the field, others were unsure, and everyone else was against it.

"Sir, with all due respect, wouldn't it be better if a professional huntsmen/huntress team be sent for this?" Asked Jack with several others nodding their heads in agreement.

"C'mon Jack." Said Yang with a teasing voice. "We can handle ourselves."

"Miss Xiao Long, while I admire your courage, Jack is correct in being afraid." Said Ozpin.

"He's right, Yang." Said Weiss. "Did you forget that we all barely did any damage against that thing. The only way we beat it was because of that Atlas specialist, Xayah."

"Who?" Asked Ozpin with a raised eyebrow.

"Xayah." Said Ruby. "She's an Atlas specialist sent undercover to figure out what the White Fang is doing. She had the credentials and everything. All legit."

"I see." Said Ozpin, reminding himself to ask Ironwood about this. "Well, back to the topic, normally I wouldn't give this assignment to just students. But, given the fact that most of our huntresses and huntsmen are busy with other assignments, I'm afraid I have to, given the fact that time is most likely of the essence. So, please, do this for me. I'll be sending Oobleck and Port with you as well." Everyone just looked at each other, unsure of what to say, when suddenly Ruby walked forward with Jaune.

"We'll do it." Said Ruby with a smile, which Jaune did as well. Seeing this and not to be outdone by first years, Coco did the same. Sun then walked forward, not willing to be cut out of the action, despite protests from his teammates. Seeing this, Jack did the same, though he had a feeling that he was going to regret this. Smiling at their courage, Ozpin then ordered several bullheads to escort them to Mountain Glen along with Oobleck and Port. When they left, Ozpin contacted Ironwood.

"What is it, Ozpin?" Asked Ironwood as he was flying back to his ship.

"A question, Ironwood." Said Ozpin. "Do you send a specialist undercover against the White Fang? One called Xayah?" Ironwood looked surprised and confused at this question.

"No, Ozpin. I didn't. Why are you asking this?" Asked Ironwood. Ozpin then frowned to himself.

"Then it appears we have another group. Miss Rose has said that the only reason the machine fell was because of this Xayah character and that she had legitimate credentials of an Atlas specialist."

"What?" Asked ironwood, getting up. "We need to find this woman now. If she had those then…"

"I'm afraid that we have no way of finding her. She most likely disappeared after the battle." Said Ozpin. "But don't worry, I'll help you with this."

"Thank you, Ozpin. I swear to you, this Xayah woman will regret ever making fake credentials." Said Ironwood before disconnecting. When he did, Ozpin just sighed to himself. Things were getting messier by the minute.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **Unknown Location**

* * *

"Xayah, do you have any idea what you did?" Asked John as he was looking at Xayah with a handful of others looking at her. Their location was unknown, but the room they were in appeared to be a meeting room, with a high-tech table that displayed various holographs as well as several monitors among many other highly-technological things. Though a few of the figures were unknown, the ones that were recognizable were Sona, Solaris, Ahri, and Irelia.

"My job." Said Xayah, not caring what the consequences her actions were. "I saved those people from that machine. So, what? That thing was part of an old scout ship. So, there's no need to be worried."

" ***Sighs*** Just because it's wasn't in the system, doesn't mean that an Internecine won't detect its defeat." Said Solaris, disappointed that Xayah ignored this.

"She's right, Xayah." Said Irelia. "This happened before. If any sufficiently advanced technology or sufficiently powerful magic is detected, then an Internecine will…"

"Activate and create more powerful droids, I know, but there isn't one here, right? The scans said so." Argued Xayah.

"Honestly, Xayah." Said John with a shake of his head. "This is why people are clamoring for your court martial. You're too reckless and don't learn from the mistakes of others, not to mention your own." Before she could argue, a speaker then suddenly came to life.

"Uh, sir. We got a situation here." Said the speaker. "Scans indicate that an Internecine is up and running."

"What!?" Yelled Xayah in disbelief. "But the scans…"

'Scans were wrong." Said the man in the speaker. "Things beginning to churn up. What do we do?" John just stared at Xayah, who looked in shock, before looking at Solaris.

"Get admiral Zorah on the comms. We're going to need more men." Said John. Solaris just nodded before leaving. "The rest of you get ready for a fight. Cause that Internecine is going to make one. As for you Xayah." John then walked up to Xayah as everyone then left. "We're going to discuss this further." With that he left, leaving Xayah to ponder on what she had done.

* * *

 **Sometime before**

 **Mountain Glenn**

 **Underground city**

* * *

"This is where they found it, right?" Asked Neptune as he and everyone else looked around for any information about the machine and if there were more here. Upon arriving, team RWBY took everyone to where they first spotted the machine. Upon arriving, they saw that the place was abandoned, no stray White Fang in sight. Assuming they had left, everyone began to strip the place for anything about the robot.

"They had to, I don't see anyway they can transport such a machine without anyone noticing." Said Blake as she scoured the area.

"Well if they had, they sure did a good job hiding it. There's no evidence that something was dug up." Said Coco as she looked through the remains of the White Fang base.

"Yeah, not digging marks or traces. They sure did a good job if they unearthed that thing or built it here." Said Jack.

"You honestly think, that thing was dug up?" Asked Weiss as she looked at Jack.

"Yeah. I mean, Atlas isn't anywhere near the technology for that machine and we're the de-facto kingdom for weapons research." Said Jack.

"So, you think it's alien?" Asked Weiss, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I do." Said Jack as he went back to searching. Before she could retort, loud rumbling forced everyone to stop what they were doing. Using his semblance, which was something akin to a military scanner, Jack spotted the rumbling was coming from somewhere in the city. Upon gathering everyone, the teachers took the lead as Jack instructed them where to go. Upon arriving to the source, they were shocked to see a midnight-colored bunker with it's door open in front of them.

"Was that part of the city, sir?" Asked Weiss as they looked at the bunker.

"I'm afraid not." Said Oobleck as he examined the structure. "It's much to advanced to be human-made and it's appeared to lead deeper underground.

"Well, we're on a mission to uncover information about that robot, I say we go inside." Said Port. Before anyone can disagree, Port heroically charged inside. Sighing at his co-worker's antic, Oobleck went in followed by the students. Upon arriving they were amazed and a bit terrified at the architecture of the bunker. The design of the hallway was unlike anything they have ever seen. Unlike designs they were used to seeing, where appeal, comfort, etc. were placed in mind, the hallway was designed with a lack of windows, little in the way of actual lighting, the coldness they were feeling, and the efficient use of space. There was nothing wasted or anything in the design of the hallway. Everything was used to its absolute limits. It was honestly something that freaked them out, seeing something so admirable, yet so alien was a unique experience for them. As they walked, Jack got scuspiouc along with everyone else.

"Something not right, Coco." Said Jack as they walked, hand in rifle just in case.

"Yeah." Agreed Coco as she looked around, her handbag ready to turn into her Gatling gun. "Why is this place opened and that rumbling. If this thing was the cause, then somethings fishy."

"Think someone wanted to lead us here?" Asked Velvet, hearing the conversation.

"Seems like it." Said Jack as he inspected the walls, amazed at the texture and wondered what the material was. Eventually they stop when a closed door, or rather what seemed like a door was in front of them and with no way out other than the way they came, they all looked at each other.

"So…we just go back?" Asked Sun to no one in particular.

"Really. But I wanted to have some fun." Whined Yang as she pouted. Before anyone can argue with her, the door suddenly opened.

"…Ok, I say we leave." Said Neptune before turning around to leave. Yang, however, grabbed him and made him stay.

"C'mon, you big baby, what can go wrong?" Said Yang before going inside.

"A lot of things." Said Jack before going in as well. Reluctantly, everyone else went in. To their surprise the door led to big hallway with the only visible light source on a single glowing console active.

"Most intriguing." Said Oobleck as he walked to the console while still keeping his guard up.

"Okay, this is weird." Said Jack as everyone followed. "A single object in a room with the only visible light source on it? This may be real life, but isn't this a tad suspicious to you guys?"

"He's got a point." Said Weiss. "Even I saw my fair share of B-rated movies to know this seems off."

"True, children. That's why I'm doing this." Said Oobleck with a smile as he approached the console. As his hand began to go near the console, he suddenly jumped back and launched a fireball from his thermos at something. They all heard some metallic growls before the more lights activated. To their surprise, a biped machine was looking at them with blue glowing optics that had electricity coming out of them. It was around 9 feet tall. It had a gray color scheme for its armor plating with distinct translucent areas where energy seems to flow perpetually. The head was V-shaped. Its weapon was a halberd with three blades, all placed in a tri-formation, which seemed to have a gun barrel in the middle of the blades. The machine growled before blasting Oobleck with its halberd, which it did so by pointing the tip of the gun barrel at Oobleck, firing a spread of lasers, similar to a shotgun blast. Fortunately, Oobleck, having thought ahead, dodged the blast in time. The energy beams destroyed the console. The machine then fired again at everyone else, which they dodged with ease.

"Ice flower!" Yelled Ruby before impeding her scythe in the ground, followed with Weiss summoning a white circle in front of Ruby's weapon. She then proceeded to open fire, the bullets being covered in ice dust. Normally the bullet covered with the dust would have created ice around the point of impact, which would then immobilize the target once sufficient rounds hit it, but this time, to everyone's shock, some kind of barrier was protecting the machine from the bullets, turning them into energy before absorbing said energy.

"Well, that's just great." Said Jack before throwing a grenade at the machine, who then proceeded to blast in mid-air. "Any more ideas?"

"Hmm…I got one!" Yelled Porter before charging at the machine, who stayed still, as if it was watching him. To it's surprise, Porter just rammed right into him, trying to tackle it to the ground. Unfortunately, the machine didn't budge, far too heavy to be taken down so easily. Looking confused at the slightly fat man, the machine was even more confused when it saw him smirk. It then looked back at the others to see the lanky man coming at him with his flaming thermos, watching as he fired several fireballs at its face, slightly disorienting it. While it was distracted by the sudden flash, Oobleck and Port fired both their weapons at it, which was soon followed by everyone else's once they were out of the way. The machine's shields held out for an impressive amount of time before dying, indicated by a flickering light. Now recovered from the sudden flash to it's optic, the machine charged at them, swinging it's halberd. Everyone sidestepped out of the way, but Ruby, her weapon imbedded on the floor to provide stability, was caught in waist by one of the blades, the very tip catching her. The blade went right through her aura, ripping her flesh with ease. As she watched her sister fall to the ground, Yang turned to the robot with red eyes. Screaming in anger, Yang charged recklessly at the robot, punching it with all her might on the head. To everyone's disbelief, the armor held, though had a large dent on the right side of the head. Stumbling in surprise, the robot just slashed at the arm that hit it, cutting above the elbow. Too enraged to feel the pain, Yang just kept punching at the machine, eventually making enough dents in the armor that she punched right through and hit the power core, causing it to glow brightly. Seeing this, Yang tried to get away, but the inevitable blast happened much sooner than anticipated, resulting in Yang being caught in the blast. Once the resulting smoke had faded, Blake and Weiss ran down to Yang. They gasped in shock at seeing shrapnel and burn marks on her backside. As they were tended to her along with several others, who rushed to help her, Port, Jack, and Coco were looking at the remains of the droid, which was only pieces. As Port picked up the remains of the head, Jack walked up to him.

"We should go." Said Jack as Port got up, tossing him the head. "If not for Yang, then for everyone else because there may be more of those things."

"Much as I hate to say, I agree." Said Port before turning to Jack. "Miss Xiao Long needs medical assistance and a proper hospital now." He then rushed toward Yang and instructed everyone to head up to the surface. As everyone began to help Yang and Ruby up, Coco and Jack were looking at the head while going up.

"Think that was the only one?" Asked Coco as they walked up to the surface.

"I don't think so." Said Jack while inspecting the head. Eventually he spotted a speck of light inside it. Faint, but just enough for him to see. Curious, he dug into the head and pulled out the light, revealing it to be a chip. "Ozpin would want something like this." Said Jack as he looked at the chip.

"Yeah. Same with Ironwood." Said Coco. "Who you giving it to?"

"Ozpin." Said Jack, turning to Coco. "Ironwood may be a good guy with good intentions, but he's not well known for handling things discreetly. And something tells me that this situation requires that." Coco just nodded her head, agreeing with his reasoning.

* * *

 **Much later**

 **Jack's room**

* * *

"Can't believe that Ozpin is out with the council and Ironwood." Said Jack as he stared at the chip he pulled from that robot's head. Due to the injuries sustained by Yang and Ruby, Ozpin was forced to tell the council and Ironwood of his little side-mission. To say they were furious was a bit of an understatement. They were all currently conversing with Ozpin right now, likely thinking of removing him from Beacon academy for this. Sighing to himself, Jack then heard a knock on his door. Curious, he opened it and, to his surprise, Blake was there with a determined look.

"Something that I can do for you, Blake?" Asked Jack. He and her didn't interact much, beyond some talks about the White Fang.

"Yes." Said Blake before barging in and looking at Jack. "My teammates nearly died during that mission, they're in the infirmary right now, getting treated."

"I know." Said Jack with true regret. He wished that he was able to do more. "Any word on them?"

"Just that Yang will need a prosthetic for her missing arm and that she need at least three surgeries to get rid of the internal bleedings, shrapnel, and to save her internal organs." Said Blake, regret in her voice. "Ruby is more better. She just needs to a blood transfusion. She'll most definitely survive. But Yang…"

"Yang is pretty tough." Said Jack, interrupting her while holding her shoulder. "She can survive this, right?"

"I'm not sure." Said Blake, hesitantly. "But I hope so. But right now, I need your help."

"My help?" Asked Jack, confused. Blake then looked at him seriously.

"You took something from that robot, right?" Asked Blake seriously. Seeing him nod, she continued. "I want you to take that thing and get whatever you can from it."

'What, why?" Asked Jack, shocked. "This should be given to Ozpin as soon as possible. Maybe even Ironwood, not matter who misguided he is."

"I know." Said Blake. "But I need to know as well. My teammate and partner nearly died against that thing and I want to know if they're more of those things out there. And I know for a fact that you got an amazing degree in engineering, the ones that matter to this situation." Though she was right, Jack was still reluctant to do so.

"Blake." Started Jack. "This goes against everything I was taught at the Atlas academy. Even if I agreed to do this, how am I going to decrypt an alien chip that should be incompatible with any Remnant technology."

"You're going to do it, Jack." Said Blake with a serious face. "Please." Hearing her pleading tone, Jack sighed before bringing out his scroll and the chip.

"This is going to be a waste of time." Said Jack before placing the two objects on his desk and going to get some material. "But I guess I can make a backward compatible device that can help. Won't guarantee that it'll do the job."

"Better for you do to something than nothing." Said Blake, grateful that Jack was doing this. As she watched him work, she let out a small smile. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Said Jack as he bought the necessary material. "I want to help. But this is an impossible task, Blake. This is literally alien tech. It shouldn't work with Remnant tech."

"Just try." Said Blake. Throwing his arms in exasperation, Jack went to work on trying to make a device that was able to make the chip compatible with his scroll. After several hours of finding enough material and many failed attempts, Jack slammed his fist in frustration, waking Blake up in the process.

"Got anything?" Asked Blake as she looked at the mess that was the result of Jack's attempt to decipher the chip.

"No." Said Jack before throwing his latest attempt into the trash, after scavenging for reusable material. He then proceeded to make another one. "I told you this isn't working. This is the last time, Blake and that's it. Better for Atlas techies to do this."

"I know." Said Blake. She then eyed all the wasted material on the desk and floor. "Sorry about making you waste all this."

"It's okay." Said Jack as he tried again. "Needed to get rid of some stuff anyway." Thinking to himself, Jack tried to insert the chip into the new device, one made from the mistakes off all the past ones, which were rectified for this thing. The chip fitted perfectly into the slot and soon the device began to sure in life as it connected the chip to his scroll. The two looked in awe as the scroll began to try and download as much information as possible from the chip. Unfortunately, the device soon sorted out and gave away, blowing up in the process. Having taken cover from the blast, Jack looked in frustration at the destroyed chip and his scroll's black screen.

"Well we tried. Nothing we can do now." Said Jack. "And now I have to go explain to Ozpin that the chip is broken."

"I'm sorry." Said Blake with regret. "I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

"It's alright." Said Jack. "I've been there before." He then remembered all the times that he got in trouble with his history instructor, a certified racist to Faunas, about his lessons on Faunas. Needless to say, he got so many detentions from that man. "You have a good night. Don't worry about the mess, I can deal with it." Reluctantly, Blake then left, leaving Jack to handle the wrecked room. After cleaning up and placing his scroll on the now clean desk, Jack immediately slumped on his bed and dozed off. Unknown to him, however, his scroll began to lit up and data in an unknown language was showing up on the screen.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

* * *

"How did those kids manage to get in here?" Asked Xayah as she and several others were investigating the bunker.

"Better question is how they managed to get here before us." Commented a large humanoid with a strange mask. It was clearly a he given his form, but wasn't human nor any recorded Faunas type. His skin was light and was reptilian-like. What made this thing clearly different from Faunas was that it had large, dreadlock-like hair on the back and side of it's head. That and he was much larger than any normal Faunas and human, going over 7 and a half feet in height. He was heavily armored with a gun on each shoulder.

"Between the time that it took our scanners to pick up this particular bunker's signal, and rounding up a response team, it's reasonable to assume that they had enough of a head start." Said John as he surveyed the aftermath of a battle along with several other men in large, bulky armor. "What's the report?"

"Well." Started a man in one of the large bulky, red-armor as he looked at John with his faceless, glass visor. "Scans indicate that a battle had broke out between a Mil, likely a generation two model, and the students of Beacon academy. Students must have overwhelmed the unit and taken its memory core as it's not here. We also managed to found an arm here, sliced off by a bladed weapon. No evidence indicates that the victim was killed or anything."

"Anything else?" Asked John as he looked at Xayah and the humanoid man.

"Negative. Console is completely trashed." Said the man. "However, what we did uncover from the security cameras is that the droid had pulled some files out of the console, then proceeded to destroy it when the students arrive here. Must have been something important."

"Indeed." Said John. "Alright, remove any evidence of our presence here and follow standard procedure when dealing with local natives." The man just nodded before meeting up with his colleagues. John then walked up to Xayah, who looked a bit ashamed.

"Look, John I…"

"Xayah." Interrupted John. "I think of you as a friend. You helped me so many times over the last few years even since I got my memory back. But if you keep doing stunts like this, I can't protect you from the fallout, neither can Sona or her mother."

"I know." Said Xayah.

"Then just follow this order. Keep an eye on that boy, Jack. Cameras suggest he may have some sensitive data. Take it from whoever he gives it too and eliminate them if necessary."

"Got it." Said Xayah before taking off in a plume of feathers.

"Were you really going to recommend her court martial, old friend?" Asked the humanoid being.

"No." Said John. "She's a good person with good intentions. She just acts too recklessly sometimes."

"Reminds you of a certain friend of ours, doesn't it?" Said the humanoid with amusement.

"Yeah." Agreed John. "But, unlike her, he actually takes necessary ones." Sighing to himself, John went outside, hoping to get some fresh air.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

"Look general Ironwood, I can explain…" Jack was then interrupted when Ironwood raised his hand.

"Mister Ryder, I don't want to hear your explanations, neither does Ozpin." Said Ironwood, looking at the boy in disappointment. "What we like to hear is how you managed to destroy the chip that you acquired from that bunker underneath Mountain Glenn." Ironwood, and to an extension Ozpin, were disappointed and upset to learn from Jack that the chip was destroyed by him accidentally during the night. They were shocked beyond belief to hear about a bunker underneath Mountain Glenn. They sent teams there, both regular soldiers and huntsmen, but the bunker was gone. No trace of its existence was found. So, they were hoping that the chip that Jack uncovered would give them some answer, which leads to the discussion right now.

"I…woke up rather groggily today." Said Jack, coming up with a story to cover up Blake telling him to do uncover the chip's secret on his own. "And I might have accidentally discharged my weapon at the chip along with some belongings of mine." To make this story believable, Jack had to fire his weapon at his desk with some of his more ridable belongings, like notebooks and the like. Course he was now going to fail an exam now, but it was necessary in his eyes to do so.

"I seriously doubt that." Said Ironwood. He remembered Jack Ryder during his time in the Atlas academy. He didn't make many friends there, nor was he the best in terms of skills, but his technical prowess and his test scores caught his eye. Plus, the times he asked his subordinate, Winter Schnee, about him, she always spoke highly of the boy. Another thing was that, during his time in the academy, he never broke the rules and was a highly decorative student. Too hear him make such a sloppy mistake, was something that Ironwood didn't believe. Ozpin, however, seemed to buy it.

"While I am disappointed at this news, mister Ryder, I understand that these things happen. You may go." Said Ozpin. Both Jack and Ironwood looked at Ozpin in surprise.

"With respect, sir, I failed you. I should at least be punished for this muck up." Said Jack, not believing that he was getting scot free.

"I agree." Said Ironwood. "The boy did discharge his weapon in his quarters, potentially endangering his fellow students. That sort of thing should be punished, Oz."

"I know." Said Ozpin. "Which is why I'm now assigning him a locker until it is he is deemed ready to having a weapon in his room again. That is all. Good day, Jack." Though reluctant to leave, Jack just saluted the two men in respect before leaving. As he watched the teenager leave, Ironwood let out a sigh.

"You're too nice to the students, Oz." Said Ironwood, looking at him in disappointment. "And you're also placing too much trust in them."

"James, don't start…"

"But I have to." Interrupted Ironwood. "Your faith in these new students of yours is beginning to erode my faith in your strategizing skills. Sending a first-year team into a highly dangerous zone with only a doctor as a backup? Not to mention sending a group of first to second-year teams to fight against the Grimm when they invaded. And to top it all off, you sent those teams from that Grimm invasion to Mountain Glenn again to investigate that robot and it ended with two of them being injured, one being severely so. Without my consent or the councils as well. What were you thinking, Oz? Do you even trust me?"

"I do trust you, James." Said Ozpin, turning to his good friend with stoic eyes. "But that last mission required subtly. Something that you lack."

"I know I'm heavy-handed, Oz." Said Ironwood. "But you must understand how hurt I was that you didn't at least tell me about your plan."

'I know." Said Ozpin with true regret. "And yes, I should have told you. But time was of the essence. And only know do I realize my mistake."

"You're lucky that I stood up for you." Said Ironwood. "Or the council would have fired you."

"Yes, and you have my thanks, James." Said Ozpin. "So, what now? What is your plan for the Vytal festival and its security?"

"For now, getting more men and automated machines as well as more gunships." Said Ironwood. "Unfortunately, the Atlas council is being difficult in sending more troops due to the losses suffered from the breach. Fortunately, I pulled some favors and strings and got enough to replace at least 75 percent of the equipment and manpower we lost as well as a new airship. The rest is being replaced by specialists."

"How many?" Asked Ozpin, intrigued.

"Just eight. But they're some of the finest we have." Said Ironwood. "I believe miss Schnee will be happy about seeing one of them." Ozpin then let out a smile.

"Ahh. Her sister is being stationed here?" Asked Ozpin.

"Yes." Said Ironwood. "She was quite adamant about it after hearing about the breach and her recent scuffle with another robot. She should be arriving early from the everyone else."

"How early?" Asked Ozpin. Ironwood just looked at a watch on his wrist.

"About now." Said Ironwood before looking out the window. Sure enough, he spotted Winter's personal ship coming to Beacon academy. "I believe Jack will be happy about this as well. He and Winter were…close."

"Close?" Asked Ozpin before looking out the window.

"The intimate close, I believe." Said Ironwood with some amusement as he watched the ship make it's descent.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **Courtyard**

* * *

"Seriously guys, that's what happened. Ozpin just let me off the hook." Said Jack as he explained what happened. A few were shocked at the fact that Ozpin had let him off the hook so easily and others were glad he did so.

"That seems a bit odd of Ozpin to do so." Said Weiss, a bit skeptical.

"You're saying that after Ozpin sent all of us to mountain Glenn, knowing the possibility there may be more of the big robot that did so much damage to Vale?" Asked Coco sarcastically as she lowered her sunglasses. She along with her team were walking by when they saw team RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN waiting near beacon tower. Curious, they went over to ask what they were doing. Upon learning that Jack was currently speaking to Ironwood and Ozpin about the chip and how it got destroyed, which would be a cover story for how it really broke, they stuck around if only to praise Jack for his willingness to take blame for something that wasn't his fault.

"N-no…It just seems kinda irresponsible of him." Said Weiss.

"She has a point." Said Blake, surprised at Ozpin's decision. "He basically gave Jack a free pass."

"Heck, I would punish him a bit if he broke something important to me." Said Nora with a psychotic grin.

"Yeah." Said Jack, a bit uneasy. "Moving on, what are you guys planning to do for the Vytal festival?"

"Train." Said Coco. "It's in six days. So, we all got to train as hard as possible in order to better represent our academies." She then made a cheeky grin. "Not that it matters to you all cause team CFVY is winning this one."

"No way. We're going to win." Said Sun with an equally cocky grin. "It about time for the Mistral academy to win a tournament again."

"Really? Cause JNPR is going to destroy all of you!" Yelled Nora with excitement.

"No way, RWBY is!" Said Ruby. As the more childish teenagers were arguing amongst themselves, Jack walked over to Blake and Weiss, who were smiling at bit at the leader's antics.

"How's Yang? Is she going to…" He then stopped when Blake sighed and looked at him with sad eyes.

"She won't be able to participate in time for the tournament. As a result of that, we're not entering the tournament." Explained Blake.

"We've been thinking of ways to tell Ruby that without breaking her heart, but…"

"I know." Said Jack. "Sorry about that. You guys certain you won't participate?"

"Yeah." Said Weiss. "While her injuries will heal in time for the tournament, she still has only one arm, giving us a crutch."

"And even if we did participate without Yang, we'll be at a disadvantage. That, coupled with the fact that we can't ask for substitutions, means we can't participate."

"You think Ruby will take that as an excuse?" Asked Jack, not believing that Ruby will go in with just two teammates.

"She'll have trouble accepting it at first, but I know she'll make the right call." Said Blake. The three were going to continue their conversation when Weiss suddenly gasped out loud, staring at a unique airship landing at the docks. Upon seeing it himself, Jack's jaw dropped to the ground in shock. "What is it?" Asked Blake in curiosity, looking at the ship. To her surprise, Weiss ran down to the docks.

"It's her sister." Answered Jack as he also walked down to the docks. A bit surprised at hearing that, Blake then informed every one of the new event. Hearing that the eldest daughter of the Schnee Dust company was here, Ruby and Blake ran down to the docks, eager to see their teammate's sister. Everyone else just waved goodbye before leaving. By the time they all caught up to Weiss, she was already shouting out to her sister, who was currently overseeing the checks on her ships as well as securing it to the docks. Upon hearing her sister, the elder Schnee turned around slowly, an impassive look on her face, which remained as Weiss ran up to her along with her teammates and Jack.

"Winter it's gre…good to see you." Said Weiss, catching herself upon seeing strangers among her sister. "How have you've been."

"Good." Said Winter, an impassive voice that came along her face.

"Where have you've been?" Asked Weiss.

"Classified." Stated Winter.

"Anything important?" Asked Jack.

"…Classified." Stated Winter, eyeing Jack with interest. She then snapped her fingers at her guard robots, who then backed off along with her human crew. She then sighed to herself before offering a kind smile. "How have you've all been?"

"Splendid." Said Weiss, though excitement was in her voice. "I've been getting excellent grades, at the top of my combat class, and…" She couldn't say more when Winter slapped her in the head.

"That's not what I meant." Scolded Winter. "I meant how your life is? Are you eating well? Are you making new friends?"

"Well, she is doing well in the last department, miss Winter." Said Jack, stepping in, acting formal with the elder Schnee. "She's made friends with several teams as well as her own." As Winter stared at Jack, Weiss was currently glaring at him for just shoving himself into the spotlight. She then twitched in annoyance when Ruby began touching where Winter slapped her. To her surprise, Winter donned a smile.

"That's good to hear. I assume that your friends with her as well?" Asked Winter, shocking Weiss with how she was looking at Jack. Almost…affectionally.

"Yes, a few down there, but we've pretty good friends in my opinion." Said Jack.

"A few downs?" Asked Winter, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. When she found about that time." Said Jack.

"Ah." Said Winter, a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance. "That accident. I assume she responded a bit excessively?"

"Yes." Said Jack. "She can certainly throw a punch and scare someone with ease like you, ma'am. She's your sister alright." Though Weiss glared at him for those remarks, Winter just smirked.

"She is my blood, after all." Said Winter before turning to Weiss. "How did you do it, sister?" Asked Winter curiously.

"A freeze to his perverted hand and a few slaps to his face." Said Weiss with a proud smirk. Winter just twitched her mouth in amusement.

"Good." Said Winter before turning to everyone else. "I assume these are your teammates, Weiss?"

"Yeah, Ruby is our leader and Blake is one of my other teammates." Said Weiss, introducing her teammates, respectively. Blake, a bit cautious at seeing another Schnee, just bowed in head in greeting. Ruby, on the other hand, was nervous and bowed awkwardly.

"Nice to see you, your majesty." Said Ruby. "I hope the air is nice for you." Weiss just rolled her eyes at that.

"It's a bit…colder than when I last came here." Said Winter.

"Well, it is Fall." Said Ruby. She then got a punch to the head from Weiss for that remark.

"So, how long are you staying?" Asked Weiss with a smile.

"For the duration of the tournament." Said Winter, which made Weiss smile. "Don't get your hopes up, Weiss. I'm afraid I'm here as security, so I won't be around you as long as we both like. I assume you all know why?" Everyone then sobered up.

"Just you? No one else?" Asked Jack, incredulously. Not believing Atlas would only send one specialist.

"No. Several other specialists are being sent here along with an airship and enough troop and equipment to replace a large percent of general Ironwood's fleet." Explained Winter. "I will admit, though, I will spend a lot of my free time with you all."

"Really?" Asked Weiss. She internally squealed when Winter nodded. "Then let me escort you to my team's quarters. Just so you know the bunkbeds only look unstable."

"Bunk beds?" Asked Winter as she was being escorted by Weiss.

"I hope you to see you all later in…due time." Said Ruby as she lifted her skirt.

"You know, you didn't have to do that around Winter when it's just her. She doesn't care too much what people act when it's private." Said Jack as he walked to Ruby.

"Really? Thank god. Didn't want to embarrass myself." Said Ruby as she rubbed her head.

"She's a lot nicer than I thought." Commented Blake as the three watched the Schnee sisters walk to the dorms.

"Yeah. She does that to a lot of people." Said Jack. "Once you get to know her, she's not so bad. I thought she was an ice queen when I first met her, but after a while, I saw she's a truly nice person."

"Can't judge a book by their cover." Said Blake.

"Indeed." Said Jack. "So, any of your family arriving?"

"Well, dad's worried for Yang, so he's coming. Letter came this morning." Said Ruby. "Don't know about my uncle, though."

"And I haven't seen my parents in a long time. So, I doubt it." Said Blake with a sad look. "What about you?"

"Mom and dad sent a letter this morning as well. They were worried a bit, but they're fine with be staying here until the term is up." Said Jack. "On the very off chance that RWBY doesn't win, who do you think will win the festival?" Keeping appearances up so that Ruby doesn't know the sad news yet.

"Hmm…maybe CFVY because they're a year ahead of us." Said Blake. "Though I will be rooting for JNPR."

"Same here!" Said Ruby. "In fact, we got to go train with them. Later Jack!"

"See ya." Said Jack as he watched the two girls leave. "Maybe I should go see Winter and Weiss. Hope nothing bad is happening."

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

"Okay, seriously. How have these things not killed any of you, yet?" Said Jack as he saw the unstable bunkbeds. "These things are like a disaster waiting to go off."

"We're just really careful." Said Weiss as she sat on her bed. "And they're actually really sturdy."

"Somehow, I doubt that, Weiss." Said Winter as she eyed the makeshift beds. "Seeing that we're alone, may I ask how was your experience with these death machines." Asked Winter seriously. Jack and Weiss then looked at each other before turning to Winter.

"You heard?" Asked Jack, already knowing the answer.

"Yes." Said Winter. "I wouldn't have asked to be transferred here if I didn't know. So, tell me. What were they like?" Jack then looked at Weiss again. Upon seeing his eyes, she waved her hand to tell him to do it.

"Well, they were massive." Said Jack as he began to tell his experience with the machines. "Almost unstoppable. The bigger one, the one that Atlas took, was unbeatable. We threw everything at it, yet it wouldn't go down. It kept firing and firing until this Faunas woman deactivated it." Raising an eyebrow at that, Winter motioned him to go on. "The smaller one was no less deadly. It had some sort of aura-like shield that didn't go down until we focused so much ammo and dust into it. And even then, it's armor only broke when Yang, a teammate of Weiss, managed to use her semblance to dent the armor enough to rupture the power core, but not before losing her arm and suffering shrapnel penetrating her body."

"I assume this is the one in the infirmary. The one that's related to Qrow?" Asked Winter.

"Qrow?" Asked Weiss.

"Your leader's uncle as well as your injured teammates." Explained Winter. "I have to assume he'll be here soon." She said it with so much disdain, that Weiss widened her eyes. Jack, on the other hand, knew how much she hated Qrow and his antics. He always managed to rile her up. He, on the other hand, found Qrow to be tolerable. He may be a rulebreaker, but he genuinely loved his nieces and Jack respected that. Though his views on morals and beliefs like happy endings was something that got on his nerves, especially when he kept insulting him for no good reason.

"I assume that Atlas won't be offering anything to her?" Asked Jack.

"Well, given Ironwood's friendship with Ozpin, I'd assume that he'll be willing to give her a robotic replacement. Though I doubt it, considering he pulled enough strings to get this many reinforcements here." Said Winter. "Anyway, did you uncover some data about either of those machines?"

"Well…yes, but it got destroyed." Said Jack. Raising an eyebrow, Winter motioned for him to explain, which he did so with the fake story. Upon him finishing, Winter sighed to herself while shaking her head.

"Did you honestly expect me to believe that ruse, Jack?" Asked Winter as she eyed at him in disappointment.

"Worth a shot?" Said Jack. Winter just shook her head.

"How did you know?" Asked Weiss, curious. It was a poor excuse, sure, but Jack made the accident extremely believable.

"Please, I knew him for so long that I knew that he wouldn't pull so an amateur mistake unless it was on purpose." Said Winter. "Now, what happened exactly?" Jack just looked at Weiss, wondering if he should tell her. Reluctantly, Weiss nodded her head.

" ***Sighs*** Alright. What really happened is that Blake asked me to decode the chip or…processor of that droid we fought. I told her that it was near impossible, but she wouldn't listen. So, out of curiosity and probably a want to figure it out as well, I tried to decode it. I spent so many hours trying to transfer what data was on there to my scroll." Explained Jack before showing Winter his scroll. "While it did work, it unfortunately, broke my scroll and destroyed the chip. Essentially, making the whatever is in the chip worthless." Winter just stared at him before speaking.

"Are you planning to get it repaired?" Asked Winter.

"Yeah." Said Jack, putting the scroll back in his pocket. "I hope that data is still intact."

"Doubtful." Said Winter. "You should have left it to the professionals, Jack."

"I know, but I really thought I could crack it myself." Said Jack.

"Much as I respect your skills in engineering, I truly think you should have left it alone." Said Winter before sighing in exasperation. "Moving on, I wish to see how well both of you had become since attending Beacon academy. Weiss, we'll be dealing with your semblance as for Jack." She then turned to him with a smirk. "We'll be dealing with your hand to hand skills." Jack then donned a look of dread at that.

"Oh crap." Said Jack, preparing for a world of pain.

* * *

 **Later**

 **Some courtyard**

* * *

"Ohhh." Moaned Jack as he rubbed his neck while Weiss was giggling in amusement as Winter inspected him for any permanent damages. "Why is it that you always go for my neck?"

"You have poor reflexes." Explained Winter. "Plus, you have poor defenses for your neck. Something that can be exploited by a fast-enough opponent." She then frowned. "You still need to work on you hand to hand skills. In fact, you may have gotten even worse since you came to Beacon. You also need to work on your reaction time and reflexes."

"I know." Said Jack as he got up. "But you know that I have horrible reflexes, Winter. You said so yourself back in Atlas."

"True." Said Winter. "But that doesn't mean we can improve them to be at least adequate. Now." She then turned to Weiss. "Let's deal with your summoning's, Weiss. Did you improve on them?" Weiss just donned a hesitant look before answering.

"You know I can't." Said Weiss.

"What?" Asked Jack as he twirled his arm around. "You don't know how to use your summonings?"

"Yes, she can't." Said Winter. "For some reason, she can't summon anything properly. Either that or it doesn't work, which is odd, because all Schnees have been able to summon their fallen opponents with ease."

"Everyone Schnee except me." Said Weiss with a frown. "I just can't do it."

"How come?" Asked Jack.

"I don't know. I just can't." Said Weiss in frustration.

"With that attitude, you'll never be able to achieve it." Said Winter. She then sighed before placing a hand on her sister. "Let's at least try. Jack, I'm afraid that this is private. Can you wait somewhere close by?"

"Of course, Winter." Said Jack. "I'll just wait outside the courtyard." He then bowed in respect before leaving. Eventually he sat down on a bench close by that made him easy to spot by the Schnee sisters. As he waited for them to finish, Jack looked at his scroll, attempting to try and fix it on his own. When Blake left his room that night, he tried to turn his scroll back on. Unfortunately, the explosion that destroyed the chip, must have also damaged his scroll as he couldn't turn it on. He tried to reboot it, change the power cells, even turned it off and on, but it wouldn't work. Humming in thought, he brought a set of small tools he'd kept around him and he opened the case. Despite knowing the pointless of the task with the tools he had, he still did so. If anything, it would keep him busy while the Schnee sisters were training. What he found, after removing the covers, completely shocked him. The circuity was…completely different than the standard model. Though he dissected only an old model of the scroll back during his engineering courses, he was sure the current model didn't have circuitry that was constantly changing or had this many glowing circuits. The circuits and wiring were constantly morphing and reconnecting with each other. He never seen anything like it. He knew that he had to tell someone about this, but who? Due to his lie to both Ironwood and Ozpin, he'll likely suffer a punishment that even Ozpin can't stop. But they needed to see this. He was about to say screw it and face the consequences for his deception when he saw a cloak that looked like it was made from feathers. Blinking in surprise, he was about to check it out when he was suddenly grabbed from behind. After being pulled from the bench, he was saw the woman from the breach. The one that took down the giant robot.

"You people really need to stop now before things get worse." Said Xayah before dragging him somewhere. After finding a secluded part of the courtyard. After making sure no one was around, she let Jack go. "Let me get to the point. Give me that scroll of yours and I'll leave you alone forever."

"What do you mean?" Asked Jack as he got up. "Don't you work for Ironwood?" Having been told by Ironwood that there wasn't an operative of his that was named Xayah before telling him about the chip, he was suspicious of this woman as well as the people she was with during the ball. Now that he thought about it, something seemed…off about her. But for now, he'll play dumb and try to fool her. To his surprise, she just rolled her eyes.

"Don't play dumb, kid." Said Xayah as she placed a hand on her hip. "I know that Ironwood had told you that I don't work for him. I also overheard you talking about the chip's data being in your scroll. So, look." She then brought out her hand. "Just give me the scroll, pretend that stupid cover up of yours is real, and both of us will go off scot free and happy." Jack just narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think so." Said Jack, clutching to his scroll with all his strength. "This scroll is going over to Ironwood and Ozpin and there's nothing that you can do about it." Xayah just scowled before sighing to herself.

"Okay, kid." Said Xayah. "In my earlier years, I would just kill you now and take that scroll. But, that was a long time ago. Now, I'm a lot more…nicer." She said the last word with some hesitance. "So, just give it to me. I would tell you the reason if it didn't put you in danger."

"What the heck do you mean?" Demanded Jack as he edged closer to where he hoped Winter and Weiss were. "Why would telling me what you're up to put me into any sort of danger?"

"Let's just say my current superior's superior is not the kindest person there is." Said Xayah as walked closer to him. "You just have to trust me."

"Trust you?" Asked Jack, skeptically. "Why would I trust someone who lied about their affiliations, even if they helped us with the recent Grimm invasion."

" ***Sighs*** Seems I can't convince you." Said Xayah as she looked at him in frustration. "And I can't show you anything compromising. So, I'll just do this." She then grabbed him by the neck and brought him to her face, a feather placed on his neck. Though it shouldn't be anywhere near sharp enough to cut him, he felt the edge being razor sharp and he'd seen their effectiveness personally, so he knew how deadly they were. He put on an impassive face, his two years of training in the Atlas academy kicking on, despite being afraid for his life. She then got closer to him, their faces close to touching, before speaking. "There's a sniper some distance away, waiting to take a pot shot at you should you refuse to not tell anyone." Jack was shocked at this and was about to look around when Xayah headbutted him mildly, still leaving a forming bruise, though. After letting the teenager go, with him landing on his butt, she crouched down at him.

"Look, I'll be straight forward with you." Said Xayah as she kneeled over him. "Do not give whatever data was on that chip to anyone, no matter how trustworthy or good-intentioned they are. If you do, you'll be signing their death warrants as well as dooming this planet to oblivion. Whether by us or those machines that you fought before. So, please…don't share it." Jack was surprised to see a look of pleading from her eyes. Before he could ask her why, she suddenly disappeared in a plume of feathers, leaving a confused huntsman-in-training. After the last feather vanished into thin air, he looked at his scroll and it's internal circuitry, which was still morphing and changing. He knew that it was his duty to report this to the headmasters and face the consequences for lying and his morals compelled him to as well. Yet…there was something in Xayah's pleading eyes that made him second guess. He shouldn't trust her as she really gave him no reason to but also no reason not to trust her. And something about her tone made him think that she was telling the truth. Groaning to himself, he went to his spot in the bench to grab the covers for his scrolls. After finding the covers, he screwed them back on. Once completed, he stuffed the scroll back into his pocket. Against his better judgement, he decided to trust Xayah for this once. Until she gave him a reason not to. That and he actually wanted to keep living.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **Much later**

 **Unknown location**

* * *

In a relatively unknown location, a large number of robot, ranging from the nanoscopic size to as large as the machine from the breach. They were all either repairing a large metal facility, which was damaged somewhat, all of which seemed to be from time, or guarding it. The deepest part of this facility contained a large room that contained a large pillar-like machine. The machine was currently analyzing the combat data and recordings from the breach and the battle in the bunker. Though the larger machine wasn't in it's standard forces or in it's entire garrison, it still managed to acquire it's combat data. Carefully analyzing both sets, it concluded that it needed to upgrades it's forces to have quicker reaction times and more durable armor. Moving on, it recently discovered that most of it's facilities were out of commission and repairs were under way. It also found out that most of it's garrison was still in stasis or destroyed due to time or other incidents. With only a minor portion of it's forces active, the machine decided to figure out the strength of the locals before making any moves. With this in mind, the machine sent out several recon drones to determine their strength and weakness as well as anything it can use.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **Night**

* * *

"Looks like he won't tell anyone." Said Xayah as she watched Jack go to sleep. She then frowned when she heard some yelling. "Relax, you fish bowl. I'll do what needs to be done if he squawks." With that she turned off her communicator, sighing to herself after doing so. "I hate that asshole so much." She then looked back at Jack. "Better listen to me kid."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

* * *

 **Downtown Vale**

 **Midday**

* * *

In the bar somewhere in the city of Vale, Solaris was currently drinking a coffee that she had ordered while John, her dance partner at the dance at Beacon academy, was looking at a T.V. showcasing the Vytal festival. As she was drinking her coffee, Solaris couldn't help, but stare at John's body. That muscular body that attracted her to no end, currently being covered well by some native armor.

"Trying to hide yourself from me, John?" Asked Solaris with a mocking hurt tone as she pouted. She then smirked when she saw him look at her. "I'm dying to slice all that off and punish you for not showing me that wonderful body of yours."

"Knock it off." Said John as he went back to watching the match that was currently being shown. It was team JNPR versus team BRNZ, a team of trainees from Vacuo. Both teams were doing well for a bunch of teenagers. At least for this world's standards. "We need to focus on those kids. They're grave danger against forces they can't begin to comprehend."

"True." Said Solaris. "But that doesn't mean that you and I have to do it. You already got some of our best doing that right now."

"Doesn't hurt to have extra eyes on them." Said John as he watched JNPR finish off their opponents. "Impressive."

"For their standards." Reminded Solaris. "You've seen our people perform much better things. That includes our sons." John just ignored this and went on to see team SSSN going up against a team from Vacuo, an all-female team called NDGO. "Don't stare at them for too long. The tournament might cancel because of unexpected deaths of its participants if you do."

"Don't, Solaris." Said John firmly as he looked at his partner. "Never joke on stuff like that."

"Relax." Said Solaris with a wave of her hand. "I'm merely messing with you." She then looked at him with affection. "Besides, I know that you only have eyes for me." She then removed a foot from the confines of her high-heel boot before placing it near John's nether regions, causing him to grunt, which caused her to smirk. "And I'm the only one that can make you react that way." She was about to move her foot when John grabbed it.

"Do it later. You're making a scene." Said John as he tilted his head to a waitress looking at them with a blushing face. Solaris just smirked at the waitress before putting her boot back on.

"Fine, but we'll continue in the bed." Said Solaris before going back to her coffee. "You think that team RWBY is doing alright? Particularly that blond."

"Only half of them are doing okay." Said John before looking around in case anyone was listening in. "The leader, Ruby, is taking it pretty hard, but has since moved on. At least that's what Wolf is telling me. She must have wanted to do well in the tournament."

"Or wanted to make her mother and father proud." Said Solaris with a quiet tone filled with pity, all manner of playfulness gone.

"That's probably it." Said John. "I don't think she's blaming her sister, though. They're too close for that. But I have no doubt that the sister is taking it hard."

"Can't blame her though." Said Solaris. "She used to think she was invincible, based on the reports, and that was shattered when that Mil had sliced her arm off and wounded her so much. Must have hurt her pride."

"Probably did." Said John. "She'll need to see this as a life-lesson or else she'll just be depressed all her life."

"Yeah." Said Solaris quietly. "So, you think she'll ever get back in the field?"

"Believe or not, but that Atlas general, Ironwood, had requested that she'd be given a robotic arm to replace the one that she lost." Said John. Seeing Solaris's shocked look, he continued. "No joke, Zed had overheard Ozpin speaking with Ironwood about it. Apparently, Ozpin begged Ironwood to do so. It was a rather heated debate at the end, but Ironwood eventually gave in."

"Must be a skilled negotiator then, that Ozpin." Said Solaris after finishing her coffee. "Or skilled in the art of deception."

"It's both, I think." Said John. After seeing team SSSN win the match, John then got up. "Time to go." Having already seen, team CFVY's match, they didn't need to see the rest. "Got to check in with the teams out investigating. Wait here while I…" He then pointed to the direction of an alleyway next to the bar.

"Sure. Don't want to ruin your check ins." John just shook his head before leaving, but then Solaris leaned up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Good luck." Said Solaris as she watched him leave the bar. As she was waiting for John, a grown man had slid himself on John's seat stared at her with lustful eyes.

"Hello beautiful." Said the man as he stared at her bosom, making her sneer in disgust. "How about you and I leave this place for a day around town."

"Tempting offer." Said Solaris as she tapped her fingers on the wooden bar. "But I already have someone showing me around."

"But I can show you such a good time." Said the man. "Certainly, much more than that stone-cold ass that you were with." Hearing him refer to John this way, made her flex her fingers in an effort to calm herself. Sighing in annoyance, she just slapped him before dropping a heel on his foot, making him yelp in pain, gripping his foot as he did so.

"Say that about my man again and you'll regret the day you were born." Threatened Solaris as she glared at the man, who just cursed at her before leaving. Soon, John arrived and told her that they needed to go back, which she agreed to earnestly. As they were leaving, John noticed a group of men glaring at them. When he asked what was that about, Solaris just shrugged, saying they can't handle rejection.

* * *

 **Beacon academy**

* * *

"No." Said Yang firmly as she clenched her bedsheets. Though she had nearly recovered, thanks to her aura and Beacon's medical staff, she still was required to be in bedrest for at least two more days.

"But Yang…" Started Ruby before her sister cut of her.

"Yang, I really think that you should take it." Said Jack as he held a box containing an Atlas cybernetic arm. "This is an opportunity to get right back into the action."

"He's right." Said Weiss as she and Blake looked at Yang in concern. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Atlas doesn't do this for just anyone. Ironwood had to pull some strings just to get you this."

"We're not asking you to forget your old arm." Said Blake as Jack inspected the arm for any deficiencies. "We're asking you to move on." Yang just sighed to herself.

"Guys." Started Yang as she looked at everyone. "I appreciate what you're trying to do. I really am. But I don't think I can accept this."

"Yang." Started Jack as he gave Blake the box. "We may not be that close, but I really think that you should take it. Just hear me out, please." Seeing that she was, at least, partially curious on what he had to say, he continued. "I can understand the emotional trauma that you're going through. An acquaintance of mine in Atlas academy was similar to you. Confident in his abilities and didn't think that anyone can stop him or his team. I wasn't friends with them, per say, but they did respect my engineering skills. Anyway, they were sent on a routine mission on their 2nd year. Simple scouting mission. Unfortunately, something went awry, and everyone, but him, died on that mission. Intel was way off, and Grimm overwhelmed them. He made it with some treatable wounds, but the trauma of losing his entire team sent him into a depression. I tried to help out, but he just shut me and everyone else, including his family, out. Eventually, he was discharged from the academy and is currently living with his family. Far as I know, he's still in a depression." He saw some sad and shocked looks from team RWBY after he finished. He then sighed before continuing. "I'm telling you this because I'm seeing similar patterns with you Yang. And I don't want that to happen to you, and neither does your family or team. So, please, don't deny our help." Yang just looked at her sheets for a long time before sighing.

"Got to admit, you're pretty okay with speeches." Said Yang as she looked at Jack, who just rubbed his head, saying that it was nothing. "Alright. I'll think about it. Just one question. Is there anything wrong with this arm?" Asked Yang as she looked at the robot arm provided to her.

"Well," Started Jack as he inspected the arm again. "There's nothing really wrong with it, per say. It's just the constant maintenance that you have to do to ensure it's operating at peck efficiency. There's also the added problem of using your semblance with this arm. You could break it if you went all out with punching an opponent with this arm."

"O-kay. Any benefits?" Asked Yang as her sudden optimism went down again.

"Some, but not many." Said Jack. "It is more powerful than your old arm and probably is more light and durable. I could see this working for you. Just have to keep it maintained and that's it."

"Great." Said Yang, hating the idea that she'll have to keep this thing maintained.

"Don't worry, I'll help." Said Ruby. "Jack can also help as well. You can provide tips, right?"

"Oh yeah." Said Jack. "Just need to read the manual and diagrams that came with it in case I do something stupid. This is state of the line tech, after all. When do you want to put it on?"

"After I get out of here." Said Yang as she looked around for the nurses and doctors. "They won't let me do anything aside from bed rest. Least I can still make jokes."

"Must be awful for them, then." Said Weiss, remembering Yang's idiotic puns and jokes.

"They got used to it." Said Yang with a smirk. "After the third day." They then heard a nurse walking to them. "Well, catch you guys later. Don't you guys here for my check up."

"By us, you mean me." Said Jack as he was backing off.

"Smart man." Commented Yang as she smirked. With that, everyone then left the infirmary and were walking down the courtyard.

"So, Ruby, you think that Yang will recover from this?" Asked Jack as they walked.

"Oh yeah." Said Ruby with confidence. "She's tough as nails. She'll bounce back from this." Jack just looked at Blake and Weiss, who nodded to show that they were confident as well. Nodding in agreement, he then spoke again.

"Think she'll be fine with a robot arm?" Asked Jack.

"Fine? No way, she'll be more awesome than before!" Exclaimed Ruby with excitement. "A robot arm is so cool." As she rambled on, the remaining three teenagers were conversing with each other.

"She got over the tournament?" Asked Jack as he whispered as Ruby rambled on.

"Oh yeah." Whispered Weiss. "Got depressed for a few hours, but got over it. Rather quickly I might add."

"It's Ruby." Said Blake. "She's just that kind of person." Jack just nodded in agreement and was about to speak when they heard some yelling. Concerned, everyone then ran out to the docks and saw Winter arguing with a man with a giant board sword.

"Oh my god! It's uncle Qrow!" Yelled Ruby with excitement as she ran down, using her semblance. She soon tackled her uncle to the ground as she embraced him, shocking Winter and the older man. As they were walking down, they saw Qrow getting up and rubbing Ruby's head with an affectional smile. Winter, seeing her sister, her team, and Jack, arriving clamed down and settle with glaring at Qrow, who just gave her a smirk, infuriating her.

"Uh…nice to see you, sir." Greeted Jack as he waved his hand at Qrow. The man just scoffed in amusement before waving his hand. In Qrow's eyes, Jack was a pretty decent and respectable boy. Still, it amused Qrow whenever he made fun of Atlas or insulted it and the boy would disagree and try to defend Atlas and its ideals. Sure, he was sort of indoctrinated in the Atlas kingdom's ideals, but he was flexible enough to respect other's opinions and his wish to understand the other kingdom's ideals was something that Qrow can respect. So, he found him to be a bit more tolerable than most from Atlas. Especially that Schnee specialist, who he had a great deal of fun messing around and embarrassing her to her superiors.

"Don't call me sir, kid." Said Qrow. "Makes me feel old." He then let go of his niece and made a slight wink at Winter, whose hand was close to grabbing her sword and stabbing Qrow with it. "Well, this was an interesting reunion and all, but I got to speak with Oz and Ironwood. Got something to say to the both of them. With that, the man left the group and proceeded to the tower, but not before telling his niece that they'll catch up soon.

"So, Winter. You okay?" Asked Jack as he saw her take a deep breath.

"No." Said Winter bluntly. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go and cool off." With that she marched off to her ship.

'Is there something going on with Weiss's scary sister and my uncle, Jack?" Asked Ruby as they watched Winter storm off.

"Uh…yeah. Mostly it's because of how Qrow views Atlas and its ideals, his personality, and how much he deems Winter as an inferior and a tool." Explained Jack. "That and he made her look like a fool some time ago."

"How dare he!" Yelled Weiss, infuriated at the last part. "Does he have manners?"

"Apparently not around people from Atlas. Or at least the hardliners." Said Jack as they looked at the tower.

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

"You two better have a good explanation cause I'm not in the mood for games." Said Qrow as he glared at Ozpin and Ironwood. One for sending his nieces and several teams of students on a mission investigating a giant machine that wasted a good portion of the city of Vale. The other for having a fleet of warships and troops for "security purposes".

"Qrow, am much as I would love to explain, you also owe us an explanation." Said Ironwood. "You've been out of contact for a couple of months now. And then you suddenly show up. Explain."

"I don't have to explain anything." Said Qrow. "Besides, reception is spotty at best in places where I need to go."

"Qrow, please." Said Ozpin as Glynda and Ironwood stared at Qrow. "I'll explain my actions as well as James, if you explain what you saw out there. Regarding the Grimm and her." Qrow just sighed to himself before speaking.

"She's been recruiting a handful of people. I don't know who exactly, but I have seen people out on jobs for her. She's also been experimenting a bit, creating new Grimm and enhancing old ones, making them stronger." Explained Qrow. "And with the recent attack on Vale, I think that she grew more confident in attacking Beacon. Seen some movement to Vale from some of the bigger Grimm. And speaking of the attack on Vale. Mind explaining what happened."

"Can't offer much." Said Ironwood, seeing no point in keeping Qrow in the dark. "The White Fang, somehow, acquired a massive machine of unspeakable power. It took everything that we threw at it and kept attacking. According to one of the students on an exchange program, the machine was only stopped by a Faunas woman named Xayah. We had interrogated him for information about her, but he said he didn't know much about her, other than that she was a bodyguard for a musician for a ball that we had sometime ago. Security cameras confirmed this upon reviewing them around the academy."

"So, are you saying that a Faunas woman, who was a guard for a singer or something along those lines, managed to take down a giant robot when the combined firepower of an Atlesian fleet, several student teams, and some huntresses/huntsman couldn't?" asked Qrow sarcastically as everyone just starred at him. "Great. The world has gone nuts. So, found any of these other guards or this musician?"

"No, after the dance, we never saw any of them again." Said Glynda. "Professor Ozpin had interrogated some of them students if they seen them leave, but we've come up dry."

"So, we just wait?" Asked Qrow in disgust, but with a resigned tone.

"I'm afraid so." Said Ozpin. "In the meantime, I believe it's time for us to look into our next guardian." Unknown to them, as they were speaking of the next guardian, they were being watched by a nanoscopic droid, who was feeding information back to its leader.

* * *

 **Unknown location**

* * *

The pillar-like machine was currently observing all the information that it was being given to by it's recon scouts. To say that it was a tad disappointed was an exaggeration. The major sentient races, two mammalian races, were only concentrated into pockets of territory. The rest was uncharted and owned by a collection of black-colored beasts with bone-like armor. Despite holding these territories relatively well, the machine calculated that, if the beasts made a coordinated attack against the territories, then they could win with relative ease and so could its forces. But it had no idea if they had a trick up their sleeve or more. And that data it was acquiring wasn't giving it much to work with. It was then that it received a stream of data from one of it's elite units, asking it for an audience. Surprised, it allowed it and received a transmission from the unit. From a small screen on the upper left of its vision, a single glowing red eye on a head that was narrow and triangle shaped was looking at the machine with an indifference, yet respectful, stance.

"Raven unit one of base eight of galaxy sixty-seven. State why your current status was designated dead." Said the pillar-like-machine.

"Apologies, Internecine." Said the machine, surprising the now known Internecine at it's sentience, meaning that it spent some time developing a personality. "Protocol had stated that a minor force would remain active to keep guard of the facilities in stasis. However, I was woken when the facility I was stationed on had eroded due to time."

"Have you any knowledge on what became of them?" Asked the Internecine, believing the machine's words. It tried to contact the standard force, but was unable to. That meant they either gone rogue or were destroyed.

"Negative." Said the machine. "It's likely they were destroyed due to time or have never been activated in the first place."

"Do you have knowledge about the locals?" Asked the Internecine.

"Indeed." Said the machine. "And I believe that we have a problem. The catalyst has been fragmented into four pieces and the locals have them." Hearing this, made the Internecine stop calculating for a moment before resuming. "They are all currently inside vaults beneath academies that have a large garrison of warriors. Still under training, but enough to warrant caution. I would have attack, but I was only one Raven and I have no idea of their capabilities."

"Understood." Said the Internecine. "We only have at least five percent of our forces. The majority are still stasis, being repaired, or were destroyed. At most, we will only have forty percent of our original garrison."

"That may be more than sufficient." Said the machine. "The current dominant species is a collection of varying species of black-colored creatures called Grimm. I had uncovered and proven that these beasts can be used to our advantage. For some reason, these beasts are attracted to negative emotions of the sentient species, thereby allowing us to use them. I have more data." The machine then sent a large cache of data to the Internecine. After reviewing the data in a short amount of time, it was impressed, beginning to think up of different scenarios and strategies to use these beasts.

"Anything else?" Asked the Internecine.

"Yes." Said the machine. "There is a sub-faction that is trying to acquire the keys, which they along with everyone else that knows of them as relics. For what purpose, I have no knowledge. They were the ones to uncover that machine, sir. I believe that we can strike a temporary alliance with them."

"And we will rid of them when their usefulness is over." Said the Internecine. Seeing the machine nod, the Internecine approved of the idea. "What do you require?"

"A standard security detail and some incentives for them to consider an alliance with us." Said the machine. "What do we have currently?" The Internecine then sent a detailed list of what is available. "That is more than sufficient."

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

Cinder was currently reviewing all the data that she had acquired from Ironwood's scroll when a message had suddenly arrived to her. Raising an eyebrow, she opened it and read the message. She was shocked and intrigued with what it said. It said that it was from a third party that wished to make an alliance with her group. In exchange for information and assistance for their operations, they're willing to provide all their assets for their cause. For incentives, the message contained some rather sensitive Atlas prototypes and weapons as well as several shipments of freshly made and completed Atlesian Paladins. It said that it'll provide more if she meets them in the designated time and location. Putting a hand on her chin, she went into thought about this message. Ultimately, she decided to go with it. But not before, messaging her leader about it.

* * *

 **Two days later**

 **Abandoned warehouse**

* * *

Cinder was currently waiting with Emerald, Neo, and Mercury in an abandoned warehouse as they waited for this contact to arrive. She was currently tapping her fingers in annoyance as she waited for this contact to arrive. How dare they make her wait. She was about to abandon this deal when the doors to the warehouse they were in. To their shock, they saw giant robots, at least eight feet tall, coming inside. All were dark grey in color with some silver for their joints. Most had halberd-like weapons and other were large, bulky machine with chain guns for hands as well as launchers on their shoulders. The leader, at least they presumed him to be, was larger than the other, at least nine feet tall, was radically different from the others. His head, rather than V-shaped for the halberd wielders or dome-shaped for the mini-gun toting ones, was narrow and triangle shaped with a single red optic. Unlike the others, it was entirely gray. It's body-shaped was roughly human shaped, like the others. As they marched, they did so with such precision and stability that could only be found in a machine. Upon getting face to face with Cinder, the machine began to speak.

"I see that you got my message." Said the machine, it's mechanical and heavily synthesized voice sending shivers down everyone's spine. "Are you here to discuss an alliance?" Cinder, quickly composing herself, just placed a hand on her hip.

"I never agreed to such a notion." Said Cinder. "I merely wanted to see what you offer. If you have something of value to offer, then you have an alliance. If you don't." She then erupted flames in her hands. "Then you'll regret contacting me."

"Rest assured, we have much to offer you." Said the machine as it bowed in respect. Seeing that Cinder was waiting for its offer, it continued. "We can provide you a robot army that is immensely superior to whatever trash the kingdom of Atlas is currently making. They'll also far more superior to whatever forces the kingdoms have." Cinder just rose an eyebrow at this, interested.

"That is quite a tall order you're saying." Said Cinder, amused. "Are you sure that these machines of yours can beat a huntress in battle?"

"Not individually for most of our standard troops, I admit." Said the machine. "But our most advanced units can do so. And our standard troops can surprise them with our weaponry and adapt tactics according to the huntress."

"You have proof?" Asked Cinder, still skeptical

"Yes. In order to ensure you're convinced of our capabilities, we sent an advanced team to neutralize a two teams of huntsmen and huntresses. I think you will be pleased." Said the machine before ordering one of the other machines to show a recording to them via his optics. Needless to say, Cinder was impressed what she saw. She saw the huntsmen and huntress teams being killed by these machines, on by ambush and one through a fair fight. Both outcomes came with no casualties from the machines and the huntsmen and huntresses being wiped out. "Now these aren't our grunt models, they're our more elite units, but I assure you that our grunts can hold their own against these huntsmen and huntresses." He then turned toward Cinder. "But are you impressed with our capabilities?" Cinder just hummed to herself as she paced around the room.

"I must admit, your machines did indeed hold their own against the huntsmen and huntresses well." Said Cinder. "But I don't need brute force, I need people who can deceive our foes and do so with discretion. I'm afraid none of that qualifies to any of you."

"That is where you are wrong, miss." Said the machine. "We can acquire information that you can't get. Like this." He then materialized a holographic screen containing Atlas secrets. Secrets that can damage their relations to the public and the other kingdoms. He then showed her more secrets that could do the same as the first, but with the other kingdoms and even the Schnee dust company, despite their hold on the media. "Is this sufficient to you?" Asked the machine before holding out his hand. Cinder just looked at the hand before shaking it.

"Welcome to the table, mr…" Said Cinder as she starred at the machine.

"Noblesse. Noblesse Oblige." Said the machine as it starred at her. "Now, what will you ask of us to do, considering you already have a plan in motion."

"My my. Have information on us before this alliance." Said Cinder. "Quite a detriment to wanting an alliance with someone."

"My apologies." Said Noblesse Oblige. "We thought that it was necessary in case you tried to do something against us."

"Understandable." Said Cinder. **"I would have done the same."** Thought Cinder.

"As for what to do, just wait for my instructions." Said Cinder. "I'm sure I can use you and your troops when the time calls for it, which will be soon."

"Understood." Said Noblesse. "We'll wait when you call for us." With that, the machines just left the area. Once they did, Noblesse contacted the Internecine. "Internecine. I have just made an alliance with the sub-fraction. It appears that we are to be held in reserve for now."

"Logical." Said the Internecine. "In the meantime, I have an assignment for you. A huntsmen in training from the training academy called Beacon academy has acquired information from one of our guard-class Mil units. The guard unit had downloaded the data from the bunker that it was stationed with. It's only a matter of time before he and his allies break our deception codes. So, your orders are to eliminate him and take back the data. Discreetly."

"Understood." Said Noblesse with some hesitance. "Anything else?"

"Yes, some top secrets intel from Atlas as well as the headmaster of Beacon academy has revealed some interesting information regarding one other student." Said the Internecine. "Apparently she possesses some silver eyes. Intel regarding this is spotty and we have no knowledge why she seems so important, but based on conversations between the headmaster and some of his allies has indicated that she is extremely important. Orders are to determine her threat level to us and take necessary measure to ensure she doesn't get in the way."

"By that, you mean to eliminate her?" Asked Noblesse.

"If necessary." Said the Internecine as it cut the connection. Noblesse then ran a simulation of all possible outcomes and strategies on what to do with the silver-eyed organic and this one called Jack. In a few seconds, it determined what the few strategies that revolved on not showing their identity to the public were as well as damaging public relations with the government. With that, it turned back to inform to his new allies about his plan. Needless to say, they were impressed.

* * *

 **The next day**

 **Some mall**

* * *

"Weiss, I don't need new clothes!" Protested Ruby as Weiss was picking out some clothes for Ruby.

"Why are we out here?" Asked Blake as she was drinking a latte while Yang was testing her new arm, amazed in how real it felt. She knew the answer, however, which was that Yang was admitted out of the infirmary. To celebrate, Ruby took everyone out for a celebration. Jack couldn't attend due to a history test, JNPR and SSSN couldn't as well due to the tournament, leaving them to celebrate alone, which was fine with them. Some things are better with just your team alone.

"How's the arm?" Asked Blake as she eyed the impressive piece of Atlas technology. She didn't like Atlas or their policies, but they sure knew their way with tech.

"Getting used to it." Said Yang as she flexed the mechanical fingers. "It kind of feels weird having an arm after the last one got sliced off."

"You'll get back from this. You always do." Said Blake, causing Yang to smile. As the two were having their moment together, Weiss was currently helping Ruby with picking out some new clothes.

"No Ruby, this one suits you more." Said Weiss as she held a red dress with a frilly skirt.

"You sure?" Asked Ruby as she eyed the shirt with cookies pictures all over it.

"Yes." Said Weiss as she took the shirt and gave Ruby the dress, who just shrugged and took it. As Ruby was examining the dress, Weiss was dragging her to the cashier to purchase the dress. After doing so, the two joined Yang and Blake. Upon seating down, Weiss then spoke to Yang.

"The arm is doing well?" Asked Weiss. Yang just gave a thumbs up with her mechanical arm and flexed the fingers to indicate it's working. "Good."

"Going to put that thing into good use, Yang?" Asked Ruby in excitement.

"Yup." Said Yang as she smirked. "Eager to put this baby into good use." As the girls were talking school, training, and some potential missions to partake in, a large explosion had destroyed a store close to them, alerting them to danger. After signaling for their weapon lockers, the four saw an Atlesian paladin coming out of the smoke. A prototype, like the one that they faced before.. The mech then started opening fire on everyone, causing people to flee in terror. Soon the weapon lockers of team RWBY arrived, landing close to them. After getting their weapons, the girls looked at the mech turn to them.

"It's the same robot that we faced before, girls." Said Ruby before pointing her weapon at the mech. "Let's turn it into scrap like the last one." The others nodded their heads before getting into position. "Ice flower followed up with Bumble bee!" Following the orders, Blake threw out her ribbon, which Yang then caught before running around in circles with Blake helping her out in gaining speed and momentum. Ruby, meanwhile, was firing her weapon at the mech, the rounds being encased in ice dust. The rounds hit the mech in the leg joints, freezing it in place. Despite this, the paladin fired some missiles at the four, forcing them to dodge. Still attempting their move, Blake and Yang traveled together as they dodge the missiles. Once the barrage was over, the two charged at the paladin, which fired energy blasts at them after running out of missiles. As they drew closer, the two went further apart from each other. After getting within jumping distance of the paladin, the duo hacked or punched the paladin in the cockpit, creating slight dents or scratches in the armor. Not done yet, the duo wrapped the ribbon around the paladin's legs. After getting a respectable distance away, the two pulled with all their strength, causing the paladin to trip. Seeing it was down, Yang got on top of the mech and started slamming her fists into the cockpit. As the armor was about to give away, the mech had gotten up and ran backwards to slam Yang into a column. However, remembering what happened last time, Yang jumped out quickly enough to avoid being slammed into a column. The paladin, after knocking down a column and smashing into a store, just starred down the four girls and aimed it's energy cannons at them.

"Hmm." Said Ruby as she starred at the paladin. "Oh! I got it! Yang, follow me!" With that the two sisters charged at the paladin, dodging energy blasts. Upon getting close enough, Ruby zipped her way past the paladin and, using the resulting momentum, slashed an arm off. While it was distracted with this, Yang slammed a fist into a leg, forcing it to trip again. As it was getting up, Weiss and Blake raced down to it. Once the mech got up, it turned to see Weiss and Blake coming at it with their weapons at the ready. Upon seeing them jump and seconds before their weapons landed, the cockpit opened, smoke erupting form the cockpit. Before they could react, their weapons went through the cockpit and landed on something soft. A few seconds later, the smoke subsided to reveal a White Fang soldier in the cockpit, head and chest pierced by the weapons of Blake and Weiss. As the two women were in shock at what they had just done, the mech fell to the ground, forcing them to jump off. The mech had felled to the side, revealing the body to the world. As people were getting out of their hiding spots and looking at what happened, Blake and Weiss were recovering with what they had done.

"What happened?" Asked Ruby. She then gasped when she saw the blood on their weapons. Yang just widened her eyes when she saw the body in the mech.

"I-it was an accident." Said Blake as she saw people in shock at what the huntresses in training had done, not knowing what really happened.

"He just opened the cockpit when we were attacking and then…" Weiss just stopped and sighed to herself. This was going to be a PR disaster, both to her family and to Beacon academy. To make matters worse, they heard a young boy yell out.

"Bro!" Yelled a young faunas boy as he rushed toward the mech. Upon seeing the dead body, he began to cry. Hearing the boy cry, made Blake and Weiss wince in regret. As people were feeling for the boy, the huntresses just looked at each other, wondering what to do.

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

"Did the plan please you?" Asked Noblesse as the he and his new 'friend' Cinder Fall were looking at the news. The news reporters were discussing the attack of the mall by the White Fang as well as condemning the huntresses in training for killing the pilot, whose brother was on the scene. As people were giving their comments on the matter, some for the huntresses and others against, Cinder made her own comments.

"Not as much as I would like, but sufficient." Said Cinder with a smile. "And we could always damage the public's trust more on the government later, anyway." She then turned to Noblesse. "Good work, Noblesse. You certainly do more than the idiots I have to work with. Perhaps, you're worth it after all."

"Thank you." Said Noblesse. "I assure you we won't fail in our missions together."

"That remains to be seen." Said Cinder as she went back to watching the news. "It's marvelous how far the White Fang are willing to go to hurt the kingdoms."

"I take it the young child was a White Fang member too?" Asked Noblesse.

"Indeed." Said Cinder. "Goes to show how much value a child soldier can be if used correctly." Noblesse just stayed silent as he watched the news, which eventually went over to alarming news of Grimm marching to the city of Vale in large numbers, going through any defenses that were set up to stop them. "Just one more push and everything will fall into place. Prepare what droids you have." She said this with one of her eyes glowing, a flame appearing over it. "Tell them to kill anyone that wants to stop us." Noblesse just bowed before leaving. As he was walking, he couldn't help but feel a bit unease with the whole thing.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

 **White Fang base**

* * *

"You heard about what happened earlier today?" Asked a White Fang grunt as he and his partner were out on patrol.

"Yeah." Said grunt number two. "That should convince more Faunas to join our cause."

"Yeah." Said the first grunt. "Someone get that kid and his brother a medal. They're true believers to our cause." The other grunt was about to agree when they were both grabbed from behind by some invisible beings. Before they could react, they're necks were snapped and their bodies were dragged away. The same was happening all over the base. Patrols had their necks snapped, throats slit, or even shot with some energy weapon, turning them into dust. As the last of the White Fang troops were being taken out, a man in dark green and black armor was walking to the commander's scroll, taking it from his corpse. After taking it, he tossed it to a man with dark armor, a staff in hand, and a weird metal appendage on his left shoulder. His orange glowing eyes just scoffed at the scroll before he went to work in cracking it's defenses. As he was doing so, the other man just walked around the base, bring his hand to the side of his helmet.

"Report." Said the man.

"Nothing from any of the officer's scrolls, sir." Said a deep voice.

"And the anomalies that our ships picked up aren't getting us anything." Said a female voice. "I'm sorry to report, sir, but I think the catalyst is on this planet, sir. May have been moved off planet, which may be the reason we see some wrecked starships here."

"Just keep searching." Said the man before cutting the transmission. After doing so, he heard some high-heels click as Solaris was walking to him, wearing the outfit she wore during the ball. Her usual attire.

"Didn't think that you're one to help others while there's a mission to do." Said Solaris as she eyed her gloved hand. "You changed, John."

"Our goal is clear, Solaris." Said John as he looked around. "That doesn't mean that we can't help those that need it while on it."

"You've been hanging out with Strayed too long." Said Solaris with a smile. "Anyway, got anything?"

"No, nothing to incriminating." Said John. "All I know is that their ally had requested a brother and his sibling to be a sacrificial lamb. That's it. Not enough to defend Beacon academy." Solaris was about to speak when John's comm link beeped to life.

"What is it?" Asked John, answering the call.

"Sir, we have a situation!" Said someone on the other side.

"What is it?" Asked John, getting serious.

"You're not going to like it." Said the unknown individual.

* * *

 **Few minutes ago**

 **Beacon academy**

* * *

Jack was currently drinking a glass of water as he tried to think up of reasons why Xayah didn't want him to reveal the information on his scroll. Maybe it was to take it for herself later, but she could have done that many times before. Maybe she wanted to delay him or something. Or she was telling the truth and that the information contained in his scroll was dangerous. He was about to go and watch the tournament in the coliseum when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and slammed into a wall. As he recovered from the sudden attack, something began to appear slowly to him. To his shock, it was the same machine that he, team RWBY, SSSN, CFVY, JNPR, professor Oobleck, and Port had fought against. With it were several others and a taller and larger model with a triangle-shaped head. The bigger model just aimed a weapon at Jack before firing. The blast of energy hit him, but, rather than killing him, it knocked him unconscious. Soon a black and purple portal had appeared out of nowhere in Jack's room. Just as the droids were about to walk through with Jack, a barrage of feathers had pierced the windows, scoring hits in vitals spots in some droids. As the self-repairs protocols kicked in, the leader, Noblesse Oblige, had scanned outside and detected a humanoid going for cover. Just as he was about to aim his weapon, his targeting systems went awry along with everyone else. Realizing this humanoid had some advanced technology, Noblesse pushed his troops through the portal. Just as he was about to get in, another barrage of feathers hit him, all proving useless against his strong shields. After getting through, the portal closed around Noblesse just when Xayah had appeared.

"God Damnit!" Yelled Xayah before contacting the ship. "Get a QRF team ready now! We got a major situation and get me chief now!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **Artorias-This chapter should confirm who John is. And thank you for reviewing.**

* * *

"Did you manage to trace the portal's designation?" Asked John as he and a group of heavily armed and armored troops were being flown to Beacon academy from an armored gunship.

"No, otherwise I would have reported it in." Said Xayah's irritated voice as she began to clean up the mess that the Mils had done to Jack's room. "They took the kid along with his scroll and that's all I know."

"Sir, if we're unable to discern the boy's designation, then we won't be able to safe him in time." Said one of the troopers.

"I know." Said John. "But we do have a way to find him." He then contacted someone. "Solaris filled you in, right?" The troops then looked at each other, hoping that John knew what he was doing. "Good. Can you trace the portal's designation." A few minutes passed before John got an answer. "Of course." John then went over to the cockpit and told the pilots where to go. As soon as they got the location, the gunship veered around and was making it's way to Mountain Glenn.

* * *

 **Mountain Glenn**

* * *

"Yes, I understand." Said Noblesse Oblige as received his next orders from the Internecine. "Don't worry, I won't let my beliefs get in the way of what must be done." After a few orders, the Internecine disconnected, leaving Noblesse alone. The machine soon began to pace around. As it was doing so, Noblesse couldn't help feel a sense of unease, or at least something akin to it, for what needed to be done. Before he could contemplate on it, he heard a noise. Turning around, he sighed in annoyance at seeing two standard Mils picking up a crate that they clumsily dropped while another two were slacking off. He disliked the standard Mils. They were…unimpressive compared to even the native's robotic soldiers. They had a skeletal-like frame with similar looking arms and legs. Their oval-shaped heads were imbedded into their body, forcing them to turn completely around in order to see what's behind them. Overall, it was a poor design compared to the other Mils. Not to mention they were rather…incompetent. What he wouldn't give for actual competent troops as foot soldiers. Shaking his head, Noblesse walked off to where he needed to be now. But not before ordering two grunt Mils to be stationed outside to ensure no one would try and access the facility. The breach some time ago in the bunker nearby had Noblesse up the security to ensure that it doesn't happen here.

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

The two Mils that Noblesse had ordered to stand guard over the entrance were standing still, waiting for something to happen. After a few minutes passed, one guard looked at his coworker before speaking.

"So, what are you doing tomorrow?" Asked the guard. The other just shrugged. "C'mon, anything?" Again, the guard shrugged. "Seriously?! Just talk!" The other guard just turned around. Before he could say anything, he was suddenly shot up with several feathers in the face, taking out his processor, essentially killing him. "What the?!" Before the other guard could do anything, he was suddenly grabbed from behind and, with seemingly no effort, had his head and body split in two, causing his wires to spark out and dark liquid to spill out everywhere. After kicking it out of the way, the one that did the deed turned visible, revealing it to be John, clad in his armor.

"Clear?" Asked John before several heavily armed troops appeared, uncloaking like him.

"Clear, sir." Said one of the troopers, his helmet devoid of expression. John just nodded his head before ordering a trooper to hack the facilities' network and to open the door. As the trooper was doing so, Xayah emerged from her hiding place and walked to john.

"You think that we'll be able to save that kid, John?" Asked Xayah as she crossed her arms.

"Hopefully." Said John as he and his men got ready for a fight. Xayah just sighed. She hated it when he was so vague. After sometime, the door opened and everyone cloaked. Soon, a group of the more unsophisticated Mils were marching outside. Upon seeing the bodies of their comrades, the Mils were about to radio this in when they were instantly opened fire upon by the cloaked group of soldiers. They all soon fell by the barrage of bullets and energy bolts. After taking down the last one, the group slowly marched down to the facility, careful for any traps or defense systems that may be waiting for them. After passing through a large hallway and a large room, the soldier that hacked the system from before was brought up a hologram of the facility, revealing just how small it was.

"Okay, we're here." Said the trooper as he pointed to the first floor of the holographic representation of the facility. "And the most likely place they'll be placing this Jack will be here." He then pointed to a layer that represented the third level of this seemingly five-layer facility. "If previous facilities are like this one, then that level will be the dissection and research level."

"How many troops are there?" Asked another trooper.

"About around 150 standard Mils, not including air and ground units." Said the first trooper. "But the strange thing is I'm not detecting much, just a few models for research purposes and some standard and specialized military models. Not as much as there should be."

"There have been reports of things like this happening before." Said John. "Usually due to time. Whatever the reason is, it's good news for us. Lock and load troopers. We're getting that kid out of here." The troopers just nodded before they all decided on what route to take. As they were moving, Xayah walked up to John.

"What's the real reason there so few security models here?" Asked Xayah.

"I told you." Said John. "Time got to most of them. Either that or something went down or the Internecine had ordered most of them to be returned to the main base."

"For what?" Asked Xayah.

"I don't know." Said John. "And that's what worries me." Xayah just stayed silent as they made it to the third level. Upon arriving on the third floor, the group immediately detected movement coming from some distance away. After passing the seventh door, the group moved into breaching positions on the eighth door, where the movement was coming from. After placing some explosive charges on the door, John made some hand signals and everyone got ready. After collapsing his fist, he blew up the charges and several troopers threw grenades in the room. Once the grenades exploded, the group moved in, their helmets helping with the smoke. Some weapon fire had occurred, but no casualties from both sides were caused. After the smoke subsided, the group had forced the droids in the room to the ground. Seeing that the droids in the room were incapacitated, John had ordered two troopers to get some intel from any terminals that were still active. As they did so, John looked around the room. Raising an eyebrow in his helmet, he walked over to the middle of the room. In the middle of the room, he saw two capsules. Wondering why these were here, John began to hack one in order to see what was in it. After hacking the system and figuring out what the occupant was, he tightened his free hand into a fist in anger. Everyone grew a bit nervous at seeing this. John rarely got angry, but when he did, it was a force to be reckoned with. After calming down, he ordered his troops to detain the scientists and to take the two capsules with them. As they did this, Xayah walked up to John.

"What's wrong?" Asked Xayah.

"It's Jack." Said John. "They're turning him into one…" He then heard some gunfire from outside. Running outside, he saw the troops that were outside engaging the remaining security droids. Aside from the regular troops, there were some aerial combatants too. These Mils were extremely thin, nearly skeletal-like, similar to the standard one, but also having an aerodynamic design with wings that was also modular. Their hands were replaced with twin-barreled blaster with bayonet attachments. And they're feet were shaped similar to an eagle, with pronged talons for gripping opponents. They're heads were sleek with red glowing eyes. These Mils growled in a metallic voice before opening fire with their blaster arms. John's men began to fall back as the barrage intensified, returning fire as they did so, killing a few standard Mils along the way. Seeing his men were out of harm's way, John threw a grenade to the group of droids. Once the grenade went off, John ran out of the room and charged to the deactivated droids, who were now shut down due to the grenade. Closing the distance in under a second, John began to dispatch the Mils with ease, either through a burst from his rifle or his fists, which went through their frames. All done in under twenty seconds. After taking down the last one before it activated, John made his way back to his men. Upon seeing them getting ready to escort their prisoners and their cargo to safety, John went over to Xayah.

"Get back to Beacon academy." Said John. "Inform me of anything going wrong there."

"You got it." Said Xayah before disappearing in a plume of feathers. After she did so, John went over to a trooper downloading files from a terminal.

"Anything useful?" Asked John.

"Maybe, sir." Said the trooper. "In order to save time, I needed to just focus on downloading any files from this terminal instead of doing that along with translating the files. We'll have time back on the ship." John just nodded.

"Just get ready to leave. We're leaving in five." Said John. The trooper just nodded as he went back to work. John then went over to the troopers handling the capsules. "Anything wrong?"

"There is." Said a trooper, a female. "Sir, the grenades damaged some systems in these capsules. The other capsule is fine because no organic is in there, but the one containing the native is in danger. If we don't get him back to the ship soon, he'll die." Hearing the worry in her voice, John nodded his head.

"Keep him stabilized. I'm not letting him die." Said John. The trooper just nodded her head before ordering her coworker to help her stabilize the kid. Just before he could leave, he was contacted by someone. Picking up the call, John overheard what they had to say. Staying silent as panic set in on the voice, John told them that he'll be on his way before disconnecting. Ordering everyone to hurry up, John watched as his men began to speed up their work. Eventually, everyone was done and ready for transport. Seeing that everyone was ready, John contacted someone and soon everyone was gone in a bright light.

* * *

 **Later**

 **Somewhere in Vale**

* * *

Noblesse couldn't help but be pissed as he watched the carnage that was happening as a result of Cinder's grand speech of the supposed hypocrisy of Ozpin and the leaders of the kingdoms. To add to this, Cinder had told him that his men weren't needed now and to hold them in reserve, annoying him. Upon her finishing her little speech, alarms went off as Grimm invaded the city, taking everyone one by surprise. Franky, it annoyed him to no end that she was lying and manipulating the people to get her goals. But he couldn't deny the effectiveness of her plan. Grimm, the creatures native to this world were converging on Beacon academy in droves and were overwhelming any defenses and attempts to drive them away. As he watched this happen, he couldn't help, but feel some pity for these people, as most were just teenagers still-in-training and they were out fighting this battle that could decide the fate of this academy. Still, he was impressed by their resolve and respected them for it. Eventually, he grew sick of seeing this and decided to join Cinder and her lackies. Flying off the building he was in, he spotted Cinder making her way to the tower of Beacon academy. Landing beside her, he began to talk with her.

"I assume you know where you're going?" Asked Noblesse as they walked to an elevator.

"Indeed." Said Cinder, not bothered at seeing Noblesse or even caring. "You can come along if you like, just so long as you keep away from the power I seek."

"And what is this power?" Asked Noblesse, genuinely curious. Cinder just smirked.

"You'll see." Said Cinder as the elevator finally stopped. It opened to reveal a massive, long room with a pair of capsules. Both held two females and one was screaming in pain while the other was barely alive, according to his scanners, while a white-haired adult and blond hair, male adolescent was watching this happen. Before he could do anything or speak, Cinder suddenly made a bow out of glass and fired at the barely alive female, piercing the capsule and scoring a hit at her heart. As her life lines flat-lined, Noblesse some sort of energy coming out of her and going to Cinder, who accepted it with opened-arms. Chuckling in arrogance, Cinder smiled in satisfaction as she looked at the remaining occupants of the room. The boy tried to fight, but the white-haired adult pulled him back as the female from the other capsule, a red-haired adolescent, went over to them with her weapons, a javelin-like weapon and a shield. The adult ordered them to leave and get help while he held the two off. As the two were about to leave, Noblesse was about to get in their way when the adult suddenly appeared before him and kicked him in the optic, surprising him with the man's speed and power. Though his shields protected him, the attack still surprised Noblesse enough for the adolescents to get into the elevator. Cinder looked impressed at this and engaged the adult. After regaining his sight, Noblesse watched as the elevator door closed with the adolescents inside. Growling in annoyance, Noblesse began to peruse them when the adult came again and swung his cane at Noblesse, hitting him in the head again.

Intrigue rather than annoyed, Noblesse grabbed the cane and head-butted the man with such force that his aura broke along with his nose, forcing the man to let go. Amazed at seeing the man still alive, Noblesse held the cane as Cinder made her move, firing a blast of energy at the man, who simply shifted out of the way, leaving after images behind. Cinder looked surprised at seeing the man still moving so fast, despite seeing his aura break when Noblesse hit him, before attacking him, knowing that one hit from her and it's all over. As the fight went on, Noblesse inspected the cane, feeling some power in it. It's power…it was almost like a...

He was about to scan it, when he heard a massive explosion followed by Cinder laughing. Looking back at the fight, he saw the man suddenly turning to ashes as Cinder laughed in satisfaction.

"I take it you won?" Asked Noblesse as he held the cane.

"Indeed." Said Cinder as she summoned a fireball, examining it. "Now it's time to get that relic." Knowing what she was talking about, Noblesse slowly reached for a weapon when Cinder spoke again. "But first, I need to marvel in what I did." With that Cinder began to walk over to the elevator shaft. She destroyed the doors effortlessly before she blasted herself up, using her powers to do so. Sighing at her vanity. Noblesse contacted the Internecine and told him of what was going on and about the cane.

"I'm sure." Said Noblesse as he held the cane. "This thing has similar properties as them…Yes sir. I'll bring it over to you as soon as possible, but what about the fragment here?" The Internecine then told him. "Understood." He then disconnected the connection. "Well it appears you'll remain alive for now, Cinder." After making the cane disappear, he walked to the destroyed elevator shaft before using his thrusters to get back up. As he did, he saw the elevator going up, despite a hole going through it. Shrugging it off, Noblesse made it to the ground level and was walking away when he noticed a white-haired adolescent fighting the Grimm before conjuring a white circle for another adolescent with black hair with a red tint to it. The latter used the circle to go up the tower and, presumably kept going, as Noblesse didn't see her fall to the ground. Going back to the white-haired one, he saw a Grimm charged at her, who was too distracted to see it coming. Shaking his head, Noblesse summoned his rifles before engaging the Grimm and the others surrounding the girl. In under five seconds, all the Grimm were dead with the girl only noticing when the first energy bolt discharged from Noblesse's rifle. Looking over her surroundings, the girl looked to see Noblesse standing in front of the tower with his weapons on standby. Upon seeing him, the girl got into a fighting stance before zipping toward him with amazing speed. For this world at least. Using his side thrusters, Noblesse got out of the way, making the girl go directly to the elevator shaft. Surprised at this, the girl changed course, avoiding the elevator and instead hitting a wall. As she recovered, Noblesse inspected the girl. He immediately identified her as Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust company, a large energy corporation in this world. Before he could do anything with this information, the girl was back at him again and threw some stabs and slashes at him, all absorbed by his shields. Unwilling to kill the heiress of a large corporation, Noblesse grabbed the arm that held her rapier and twisted it in an angle that a human arm shouldn't be bent to, forcing her to drop her rapier due to the pain. Upon seeing her let go, Noblesse released her and watched as she held her arm. Before she could fully recover, Noblesse grabbed her rapier and threw it somewhere. As she watched this happen, the girl gritted her teeth in anger before getting up and punching the machine in the chest. This action caused her to yelp in pain as she held her hand, which was the hand that belonged to the arm that Noblesse had bent prior to this.

Blinking in amusement, Noblesse watched as the heiress glared at him before getting into a fighting stance. Amused at this, Noblesse just dodged her feeble attacks as she threw punches at him. Obviously, she wasn't trained in hand-to-hand combat. After the seventh punch, Noblesse bent down before grabbing Weiss's waist, making her squeak. He then placed her over his shoulder, his hand holding her in place.

"Put me down this instance!" Yelled Weiss as she slammed her fists at Noblesse's shoulders, uncaring that she was only hurting her hands. Shaking his head at her persistence, Noblesse was about to tell her to stop when he detected a massive energy spike. Rushing out the tower, Noblesse watched as he saw a strange bright, white light appeared from the top of the tower. It was too bright that Noblesse's optics were having a hard time at filtering it all out so he can see what was going on. Eventually the light died out to reveal the massive Grimm wyvern that had appeared from Mountain Glenn was now stone. Shocked at this, Noblesse didn't notice someone coming at him and firing at him. Shocked at this, Noblesse turned around to see a humanoid in power armor, a rifle pointed at him. With him was a female Faunus holding several feathers as daggers. Scanning them, he was a bit surprised to see a big unknown appearing for the both of them. Curious, Noblesse summoned a rifle and pointed it at them. He was about to fire when the one wearing power armor suddenly disappeared and reappeared before him. He then punched him in the arm joints, actually causing damage there, breaking through his shields. Shocked at this, Noblesse dropped his gun before he was suddenly hit in the optic by the female Faunus, who threw her daggers at it. Surprised at this, he let go of Weiss, who was caught by the man in power armor. Seeing he was damaged and needed to report this to the Internecine, Noblesse quickly flew up and got out of there. As he did so, he ordered his hidden troops to retreat to base. After doing so, his thoughts went back to those two, wondering who they were.

Meanwhile, John and Xayah were watching the machine leave.

"That's a Raven?" Asked Xayah before scoffing. "Went down like a coward."

"Don't underestimate any Raven, Xayah. We only managed to get him because we took him by surprise." Said John as he placed Weiss down gently. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"Yes, thank you." Said Weiss as she looked at the two, shocked to see Xayah. Having been told that she wasn't an Atlas operative, Weiss was immediately suspicious of her and her friend. She was still grateful though. "Who are you two?" John just stayed silent before getting up and ordering Xayah to be ready to go.

"It's 117." Said John before leaving.

"Just call him the Master Chief." Said Xayah before taking off with him, leaving Weiss to be confused at the name.

* * *

 **Later**

 **Meanwhile**

 **Unknown location**

* * *

Noblesse was currently waiting as the Internecine was inspecting the cane. After coming back from his mission, Noblesse immediately went to the internecine and gave him the cane, who inspected it with eagerness. After a few more minutes, the Internecine gave Noblesse back the cane.

"It's not like them." Said the Internecine. "Similar properties, but it's not as powerful nor as useful as them."

"I see." Said Noblesse. "What shall I do with it?"

"Throw it away." Said the Internecine. "It's worthless to us." Noblesse just nodded before making the cane disappear. "Now, Noblesse, I read your report on these two beings. What can you tell me more about them?"

"Extremely powerful." Said Noblesse as he held his damaged optic. "They were able to breach my shields and damage me. They should be a top priority."

"Agreed." Said the Internecine. "We'll deal with them in time. I should also inform you of a situation that occurred after you left the facility in mountain Glenn. It appears that the two from your report were there as well." Hearing this, shocked Noblesse. "The organic was taken along with some of our files and some of our scientists. This needs to be rectified. For now, though, I have a new assignment for you and it involves the Schnee dust company." Crossing his arms, Noblesse listened to the Internecine as he gave him his instructions. After he heard the last of them, Noblesse bowed.

"I will do this, sir." Said Noblesse before leaving.

* * *

 **Few days later**

 **Schnee manor**

* * *

Weiss was silently looking outside, thinking about Beacon, her friends, and Xayah and her friend. Despite all their efforts, Beacon still fell and she was forced to go back to Atlas with her father. She wondered what her friends were doing right now and if they were alright. Sighing again, she walked out of her room to get some fresh air. As she was walking, she saw her mother walking with a robotic guard. But one that she had never seen before. This machine wasn't the new Atlesian knights. No, rather it was a completely new model with a different design. It was painted mostly white with hints of steel and black. It was bulky but seemed elegant in a way. It had a short protrusion on its chest that ended in a point. It had a single slit visor that glowed red and had a horn on its forehead. Lastly, it had extensions on its shoulders that were shaped to look like wings. Seeing her daughter, Mrs. Schnee walked over to her. Though they rarely ever spent time with each other, on account of Weiss's mother being an alcoholic and being distant from Weiss, Weiss did love her and wanted to spend time with her mother.

"How are you doing, Weiss." Said Mrs. Schnee as she smiled at her daughter. Smiling a bit at seeing her mother sober, Weiss bowed a bit before speaking.

"I'm fine, mother." Said Weiss. "How are you?"

"Good, for now." Said Mrs. Schnee. "Your father won't be home for another few hours. Thank god." Nodding her head at that, knowing how much her mother disliked her father, Weiss then looked at the robot.

"What is that?" Asked Weiss.

"This?" Said Mrs. Schnee as she looked at the machine before her. "This is a prototype Atlas machine commissioned by the council to guard high-ranking officials. This is the first model and the council decided to place it under our care, to protect us." The machine nodded and bowed at Weiss. "It's actually fully sentient, Weiss." Widening her eyes at this, Weiss looked at her mother.

"Isn't that dangerous, mother?" Asked Weiss, recalling some protest about sentient AIs when the new Atlesian knights were being produced.

"It is, but the council assured me that it has numerous inhibitors to prevent it from attacking or killing us. It does what your father and I tell it to do and to ensure that we're all happy." Explained Mrs. Schnee. "I'll explain it more later. Just know that it won't hurt you Weiss." Nodding her head at that, Weiss looked at the machine suspiciously, who seemed to ignore the stare. Soon, it looked at Mrs. Schnee.

"Miss Willow, I advise that we go back to your room, there are some paperwork that needs to be done." Said the machine in a gentleman-like voice. Sighing in annoyance, Willow nodded curtly to the robot before allowing it to escort her to her office. As it did so, it looked at Weiss, who was a bit disturbed at seeing it's soulless visor looking at her. As they walked back to her office, Willow spoke.

"May I ask why you're inclined to spend time with my family so much, machine? To the point that you're living in my home?" Asked Willow as they entered her office.

"Merely as a precaution, miss Willow." Said the machine as he prepared some tea for her as Willow began to get to work. "The White Fang may attack your family in their own home. I'm here as insurance. I assure you that I won't be a big bother to you and your family. I swear it." He then bowed in respect to Willow, who huffed in amusement at this. "And please ma'am." He then gave her the tea he had made. "My designation is Noblesse Oblige." Willow sipped some of the tea, relishing in the taste, before speaking.

"I'll call you what I like." Said Willow. "And I'll call you a machine until otherwise." Noblesse just bowed his head in understanding before standing guard over the door in case anything happened. As he watched Willow work, Noblesse wondered about what the Internecine had ordered him to do and if he can do his orders.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

* * *

"Are you sure about this sir?" Asked a human doctor as he and other doctor of other-worldly beings were working on the capsules and their occupants. "Would he be willing to do this sort of thing on himself?"

"Must I wish to avoid doing this, I'm afraid it's the only way to save him." Said John. "And my hands are tied. The admiral ordered this to happen." Xayah, who was in the room with them, just scowled at the mention of the admiral. "Just do this, doctor. We have no choice." The doctor just sighed before telling his colleagues to proceed with the procedure. With that, John walked away with Xayah in tow.

"You okay with this, sir?" Asked Xayah, a hint of worry in her voice.

"No, I'm not." Said John. "Admiral Zorah is really getting on my nerves. What I wouldn't give for Hood or Hackett to be giving us orders."

"You're not alone in that." Said Xayah. "What do we do now? Beacon is gone and the kingdom of Vale's huntresses and huntsmen are struggling to take back the academy."

"For now, just keep an eye on team RWBY, JNPR, SSSN, CFVY, and that specialist, Winter Schnee. You told me that Jack told her about what really happened, correct?" Seeing her nod, he continued. "Then that case, I'm having our group split up. You'll take care of the ones going to Menagerie. Ahri will accompany you. I'll send Solaris to take care of CFVY. Irelia and Zed will take care of SSSN and Winter Schnee."

"And for RWBY and JNPR?" Asked Xayah.

"Based on reports, RWBY has split off and all over the place. The leader, Ruby Rose, is traveling with the remnants of JNPR to Mistral, Yang Xiao Long is in her home land of Patch, Blake Belladonna is traveling to Menagerie with that leader of SSSN, and Miss Schnee is in her home land of Atlas with her parents. Wolf will take of Miss Xiao Long, and you already know who is taking care of Blake. Miss Schnee will have Zare."

"And for Miss Rose and JNPR?" Asked Xayah.

"…I'll do it with my son." John, making Xayah look surprised at this.

"About time that you actually work together with him that isn't forced on you." Said Xayah. "What took so long for you to do so?"

"I feel he's ready now." Said John, making Xayah smirk.

"Did Solaris force this on you, chief?" Asked Xayah. John just stayed silent as he walked away, making Xayah smirk again in satisfaction.

"Seems Solaris has a big grip on the supposed legendary spartan." Said Xayah as she called him out. "Huh, Master Chief?" John just ignored her as he went through a door.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **Few months after Beacon's fall**

 **Schnee manor**

* * *

Weiss was eating her breakfast alone when Klein, the family butler, arrived with the guard robot that the Atlas council had ordered be placed in her family's manor to protect them. Though Klein was against the robot at first, he grew to tolerate it as it didn't really do much other than keep an eye for the Schnees'.

"Shall I get some more tea for you, miss Schnee?" Klein asked as he carried a tray of tea and sugar for her.

"No thanks." Weiss said as she looked at Klein. "But thank you though." Klein simply bowed at her before leaving. Upon him leaving, Weiss looked at the machine that stayed behind. "It's Noblesse Oblige, correct?"

"Yes, madam." Noblesse said with a bow. "Is there anything that you wish for me to do?"

"Not really." Weiss said as she finished her breakfast. "I just wish for you to give me some space." For the past few days, since he arrived here, Noblesse had done nothing, but keep a close eye on her and her family. Quite frankly, it was getting on her nerves, despite him keeping a respectable distance away. She knew it was his programming, but it still bothered her.

"But I give you more than sufficient space, ma'am." Noblesse said. "Do you simply wish for me to leave you alone?" Weiss just sighed before speaking.

"Yes." Weiss said. "I would actually like that." Noblesse just bowed before leaving her alone. Once he was gone, Weiss left the dining table to take a walk in the garden.

Her mother wasn't planning to drink today, having promised Weiss that she won't, the garden would be free to stroll around without hearing a woman yelling in anguish or a bottle of expensive wine being thrown around. After arriving in the wonderful garden that was in the Schnee manor, Weiss went into thought as she enjoyed the peace. She thought about her team and how they were doing. She missed them considerably along with JNPR, Neptune, and even Jack, who was declared missing during the fall of Beacon, though he was assumed to be dead along with many others. Winter took it hard but steeled herself to carry on in her duty. She was surprised at that, but stayed silent, not wanting to bother her sister when she was in pain. Her thoughts soon went to the memory of that robot and the two that saved her, Xayah and the one called Master Chief. She wondered what those three were doing and what side they were on. The robot was obviously on the side of whoever staged the attack on Beacon, but she didn't know about Xayah or the Master Chief. Were they on their side or their own? Before she could contemplate it more, she heard something coming toward the garden. She turned around and to her annoyance, she saw Noblesse Oblige walking toward her.

"I thought I said I wanted to be left alone." Weiss said, placing a hand on her hip, annoyed that her order was ignored.

"Forgive me, miss Schnee." Noblesse said. "But your sister is here. She wishes to speak to you." Surprised at this, Weiss thanked the robot before allowing him to escort her to her sister. The machine led her to where her sister was, which was the main entrance to the manor.

"Winter." Weiss said with excitement as she raced to her sister and hugged her, who returned with the same affection. "Will you be staying tonight?"

"Not really." Winter said. "I'm afraid that I'm just here to give a message to father from Ironwood. If you would like, we can talk while we're on our way to the office. I feel like I need it." Wanting to spend some time with her sister and a want to see how she is, Weiss accepted the offer, leaving Noblesse alone. Once he was left alone, Noblesse wandered around the manor, ignoring the looks from the staff. He was about to go somewhere safe, so he can speak to the Internecine when he heard the sounds stomping feet in heels and a door being slammed. Curious, he pinpointed the origin to be from Willow Schnee's room. As she was his ward for the moment until the Internecine decided that it was time get rid of the Schnee family, Noblesse went to Willow's room to check up on her. Upon arriving at her room, he knocked on the door.

"I wish to be left alone!" Willow yelled before she drank a cup of wine. Noblesse, a respecter of people's privacy, choose to simply wait outside until miss Schnee will leave her room. Meanwhile, Jacques Schnee, Weiss's father, was reading the message that Winter delivered. He wasn't at all happy.

"Who does that man think he is!" Jacques yelled before putting down the letter and going on a rant. After he finished, he calmed down and spoke to Winter. "Tell me that this is a joke, Winter."

"I'm afraid not, father." Winter said with a tone of authority. "He placed a ban on exporting dust to other kingdoms until stated otherwise. And before you ask, the majority of the council supported him. Very firmly, might I add." Growling in anger, Jacques sighed to himself before speaking again.

"Then tell James that I wish to speak to him later in the week about this." Jacques said. "And that he better do so or else." Winter raised an eyebrow at that threat but complied. The two sisters then left their father and to the doors that led out of the manor.

"Are you fine, Winter?" Weiss asked, gaining the courage to speak to Winter.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that…I know that you cared for Jack a lot. And that him being declared missing in action would have left you depressed." Winter then sighed before speaking.

"I will admit, it hurt me that he's declared missing. Possibly dead. But I knew that one day, that would happen. It's just the life that he, you, and I choose, after all. I just wish that it wasn't so soon. He would have made a fine huntsman." Weiss simply nodded as the two stopped before the door. She would have liked to ask of their exact relations but she felt like it wasn't the right time, not when she's still grieving. Before she left, Winter hugged Weiss and told her good luck. With that, she left, leaving Weiss alone in the manor again. Sighing, Weiss left for her room, having nothing to do for the day. As she walked, she heard some laughter coming from her mother's room. Shocked at this, as her mother never laughed since being married to her father, she rushed to the door and leaned on it.

"Oh my!" Willow said as she tried to contain her giggles. "You have quite the humility in you, Noblesse."

"I do what I need to do, miss Schnee. To ensure that your family is safe and relatively happy."

"Well, I must thank whoever programmed you. I certainly needed that. I suppose those people that said laughter is a good medicine for depression or anger weren't wrong, after all."

"Thank you, ma'am. I'll be sure to notify him of that." Willow simply nodded in understanding before walking over to her door and opening it. To her surprise, Weiss was at the door, having backed away to avoid hitting it.

"I suppose you heard all that, my dear?" Willow asked, slightly disappointed that Weiss had been spying on her. Weiss, to her credit, blushed a bit before speaking.

"Forgive me, mother. It won't happen again."

"I'll let it go, my dear. After all, you have never heard me laugh in your life. Ever." Willow then sighed before leaving to get something to eat from the kitchen. Once they were alone, Weiss looked at Noblesse.

"What did you do?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms at the robot. She had never seen nor heard her mother laugh in her whole life. She recalled sometime ago, during her elementary years, that she tried to make her laugh, to no avail. She was always to moody or depressed to even bother. Or was just too busy. And yet, this machine had done what she couldn't do.

"I merely engaged my humor protocol." Noblesse Oblige explained. "Miss Schnee was depressed about something, so I merely entertained her until her mood improved considerably, enough that she won't drink to relieve herself." Hearing that answer, made Weiss raise an eyebrow.

"You have a humor protocol?"

"Of course. My duty is to ensure that the Schnee family is safe and secure. That also includes keeping them happy. I hope that doesn't offend you, ma'am." Weiss just starred in shock at the machine before shaking her head.

"No, that's okay. Thank you for what you did for my mother."

"It's simply my duty." Noblesse Oblige said before leaving. Once he turned the corner, Weiss let out a bigger smile.

" **Perhaps keeping him around won't be so bad, after all."** Weiss thought as she walked to her room. Meanwhile, Noblesse was thinking of the Schnees.

" **I have to admit that the females in this family are bearable compared to the males. A pity that they all have to die for the Internecine."** Noblesse thought before walking away. Unknown to him, a shadowy figure was watching him before leaving.

Boat traveling to Menagerie

"So…what's Menagerie like?" Sun asked as he watched Blake watch the sun rising. He had to admit, it was something to look forward to. The Faunas woman next to him sighed before turning to him.

"It's better if you see for yourself." Blake said, making Sun groaned, wanting to know more about Menagerie now. Unknown to the two, two Faunas like beings were in the cargo hold. Ahri just sighed to herself as she watched Xayah trying to hold in her bile.

"I told you to get those enhancements." Ahri said as she let her tail swish back and forth.

"Screw...that." Xayah said before cupping her mouth, causing Ahri to sigh.

"I hope this boat ride will be over soon. We're almost out of barf bags for you." She then smirked when Xayah gave her the middle finger. "Wonder how the others are doing?"

* * *

 **Vale**

* * *

"I'm telling you, we should be out there, helping the Hunters and Huntresses out." Coco said as the rest of her team were deep in thought.

"I have to agree, Coco." Velvet said. "It is kind of our duty to help take out Grimm, right?"

"Exactly." Coco said before turning to the huntsman that she had talked to. "So, why aren't you letting us help."

"I'm sorry." The huntsman said. "But the council forbid any huntsmen/huntresses in training from helping us retake Beacon. For now, just go and help those that are doing the relief efforts." Sighing in frustration, Coco and her team left the huntsman and went to a relief zone, where people that had lost their homes to the Grimm were located.

"I can't believe this." Coco said. "We're just as capable as them. We should be out there and helping. Besides, they need all the help they can get."

"While I agree, that they need as much help as needed." Yatsuhashi said. "We aren't as skilled or experienced as fully trained huntsmen. We need more training."

"Which won't be as good as Beacon because that was the only huntsmen academy in Vale" Coco said. Sure, the school meant for preparing people for Beacon were okay and had fine instructors that used to be Huntsman, it wasn't as rigorous or strict as Beacon in Coco's mind.

"Relax Coco." Velvet said. "We'll get out time to shine. But for now, we need to help these people." Knowing she was right, Coco sighed before the four began to help pass out food and water for the people in need. As she was passing out some soup, Coco noticed a woman in a fine black dress looking at her with an impassive face, but her eyes held some amusement in them. Raising an eyebrow and wondering why she wore such a dress while everyone else was wearing casual wear, she walked up to the woman after passing a family their rations.

"Got something to tell me?" Coco asked as she looked at the woman, who simply chuckled as she looked at Coco.

"Just amused at your spirit." The woman said. "You really want to get out there and take the fight to the Grimm, huh?"

"Well, yeah. It's what I'm meant to do."

"Oh I know. But isn't it the purpose of a Huntress to also protect the people as well? And that should extend to helping them restart their lives or get back on their feet?" Coco just stayed silent.

"So, your saying that I shouldn't be complaining about this assignment?"

"Maybe." The woman said while twirling a strand of her hair. "I'm just telling you that there are other ways other than fighting to do your job. If you think that the job of a Huntsman is to just fight, then you'll have the chance for that soon enough." With that the woman began to leave. "Names Solaris, by the way." Coco just rose an eyebrow at that before going back to her kitchen duty. Solaris, meanwhile was thinking about Coco.

" **Quite a character, that girl."** Solaris thought. **"Stubborn, but willing to fight for their beliefs. Just the way I like them.** " With that she began to walk to the apartment that she rented while she spied on team CFVY.

* * *

 **Mistral**

 **A few days later**

* * *

"I'm telling you guys. Keep an eye on our map!" Jaune said as he looked at their map after they went back to the town they left to acquire a new one after they discovered Nora lost their original one.

"I'll be sure to keep an eye on it." Ren said as the four walked to their next designation while on their way to Heaven Academy.

"Oh, just let it go, Jaune." Ruby said as she held the map. "So, what's our next designation again?"

"Shion." Jaune said with a smile. "My family used to go there all the time. You guys will love it. There's a great hiking trail and a perfect camping spot. Plus, the people there are some of the nicest folks you'll see out here." As he ranted about Shion, Nora and Ren saw the village and gasped. Jaune and Ruby too distracted with either describing Shion or looking at the map.

"Guys." Nora said as she and Ren looked at the village. "Look." Ruby and Jaune then looked and gasped upon seeing the destroyed remnants of what used to be Shion.

"My god." Jaune said as the four made there way to the destroyed village, hoping to find any survivors. Soon, they found a heavily wounded huntsman. After running toward him and putting pressure into his wounds, Jaune spoke to the man.

"What happened? Who killed all these people!?" The huntsman just coughed before speaking.

"Bandits." The huntsman said, barely able to say the word. "They came with the cover of night and started pillaging and slaughtering the villagers, creating panic. And because of the panic…"

"Grimm." Ren said, getting the picture. Everyone looked solemn at that before they looked at the huntsman.

We'll get you a doctor." Ruby said. "Just hold on." Unfortunately, the huntsman then succumbed to his wounds and died, horrifying the teens. Sighing in frustration, Ren looked away.

"Should we bury him?" Nora asked, uncertain.

"No." Ren said. "We don't have the time and the Grimm may come back and investigate who buried him. Or the bandits may come again and do the same." Sighing again, Ren walked away. Jaune, who was distraught at seeing death again, just held his head.

"Jaune." Ruby said, holding his arm.

"It's okay, Ruby." Jaune said before sighing. "I'm just sick of losing things that I love." He then followed Ren, leaving Nora and Ruby to look at the dead huntsman. They looked at the man for a few seconds before following the boys, eager to get away from the destroyed village. Unbeknownst to them, John was watching them through the scope of a sniper rifle. Besides him was another figure wearing armor that completely obscured their identity.

"Should we bury those people?" The armored man asked, turning to face John.

"We can't." John said. "It'll just draw attention around here. And we can't afford it. Still, that doesn't mean I can't get someone to do it." He then put a hand on the side of his helmet. "Ra. Send a unanimous request to any huntsman team in Mistral, that request the acquiring and burying of anyone in Shion." After getting his reply, John got up.

"Let's go." John then cloaked himself and leaving with his compatriot, who also cloaked himself.

* * *

 **Unknown location**

* * *

The Internecine was interested. For the past six months, its remaining active facilities were being destroyed with coordinated attacks. The attackers equipped with technology that surpassed the technology of the nation called Atlas, which was the most technologically advanced nation in this planet. His forces tried their best to defend themselves, but they were all destroyed with alarming ease. Such things both frustrated and fascinated the Internecine. It was clear to the Internecine that these unknown entities had fought Mil forces before. Their tactics mirror this very much.

" **Tactics and plans will require change. Along with significant upgrades to standard grunt units."** Thought the Internecine as he reviewed the combat logs of his lost combat units. The units themselves were lost, but their memories and combat data was not. Reading through the logs, the Internecine concluded that he needed to increase the durability of his units as well as increasing their production. Though he didn't have as many facilities as it liked, the location it was in was more than capable of creating the units he desired along with a few major facilities. Sending the request, the Internecine was checking the progress on acquiring the remaining pieces. To its annoyance, the piece of the key was nowhere in the primary training facility on the nation called Vale. His forces simply couldn't find it. It was more hidden than the rest as they still can easily detect their presence in the other three kingdoms. Briefly wondering why this is, the Internecine ignored it and focused on acquiring the other pieces. It seemed to the machine, that the nation called Vacuo was the least defended. To entice the machine's decision to attack Vacuo, it seemed most of its elite fighters, the huntsmen, were all dead, leaving them dangerously low on fighters. This in mind, it ordered a base to be established near Vacuo's main city so that they're ready for an invasion. With the order passed, the Internecine went back to the task of rebuilding its forces.

* * *

 **Unknown location**

* * *

"This is ludicrous." Said a man with a metal helmet that's eyes glowed orange. The same one that Jack found unnerving. He was currently looking at a monitor. What he saw annoyed him beyond measure. "That foolish Quarian thinks to revive this native is a wise course of actions? For intel? Our intelligence unit is more than capable of doing that! How that fool acquired the rank of admiral is beyond me!" Once he finished his rant, he looked over to see his assistances going over the progress of the boy. Sighing, the man went over to a capsule in the room. Tapping at the capsule, a holographic screen, showcasing various vitals. Touching his chin, the man looked over to a platinum blonde-haired woman with pearl earrings. "Doctor Burns. How is the patient?" The woman just brought up another holographic screen from her wrist via a device mounted on her wrist and showed it to him.

"It'll be only a few days before he could be fully revitalized safely. He's been elapsing in and out of consciousness in increasing frequency." The man then waved his hand.

"Make that a few moments, Miss Burns. I just received a message from Admiral Zorah. He wants the patient be revived now." Miss Burn's eyes widened at that and so did everyone who heard what the man said. They attempted to protest but the man raised his cane, making everyone shut up. "I don't want to do so either, but this was a direct order from the admiral. And he just messaged the captain and commander John. We can't do anything but follow his orders, unless we want a court martial. So, do as I say and start the procedure." Everyone looked angry at this, but complied, knowing that they had no choice. A few minutes later, a small detachment of guards came inside the room.

The guards' armor was overkill, to say the least. They wore full body armor more suited for combat than guard duty. The armor also looked to be designed with intimidation in mind as well. The four glowing slits where eyes should be did nothing but scare civilians as they looked at the armored being. The armor itself was slim, but heavy duty with heavy armor plating that protected the user completely. The guards themselves were huge, at least one and a half foot taller than even the tallest individual in the room. The guns were also large and were quite overkill for simple guarding.

After arriving in the room, the guards took defensive positions in the large room, their guns pointed at the capsule, before turning invisible. With everything done, the man with a metal mask told everyone to proceed. With a push of a button from a holographic screen on the man's wrist, the capsule began to glow brightly from the glass that showed what's inside.

"Okay, vitals are stable. The subject is doing fine for now." Burns said as she stood next to the man in charge, who stayed calm. After a few seconds, she spoke to the man. "Viktor, if he does come back, mind intact, what will you do?" The man, now named, just moved his head a bit to his assistant.

"After I get him under control and calm, I'll contact the commander and the captain. They'll explain the situation to the boy. Better than me anyway." With that, Burns didn't say anything and watched as the glowing began to die down. Once it ended completely, she looked at her wrist mounted holographic screen.

"Okay, vitals are all good and the boy is starting to wake up. You'll be able to speak with him soon." Viktor just nodded before walking over to the capsule. Looking inside, Viktor can see that the contents of the capsule was a slim and lanky creature. After bringing his hand on the capsule, he spoke.

"Welcome back to the living Jack."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

* * *

"Welcome back to the living Jack."

Jack groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Groggily, his eyes began to focus on the being that was looking at him from outside of whatever container he was in.

Wait…container.

Looking around, Jack saw that he was inside a container with a glass window that showed him the outside. Slightly panicking, Jack began to move around.

"Be calm." Said the man in front of him. "We'll soon let you out. But in order to do so, I must have your promise that you'll remain calm and that you won't attack me or any of my colleagues. Is that clear?" Taking deep breaths, Jack just nodded. "Swear it." Feeling his eyes twitched, Jack swore to do what the man says. Satisfied, but only a little, the man pressed some buttons and the container began to open. Once it allowed him to do so, Jack got out of the container and looked around him. Upon seeing the room and the uniforms the people wore, Jack relaxed. The design of the room looked exactly like an Atlas medical bay in one of their airships. And the uniforms the people wore, with the exception of the man that he first encountered when he woke up, but that was probably because he was very important, were Atlas medical personal uniforms.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jack began to relax considerably. Atlas personal must have saved him from those robots that captured him and they brought him here to recover. With luck, Winter might be here to meet up with his soon as well as team RWBY and JNPR. Maybe even Coco too. Looking at the man, Jack began to speak up.

"Thanks for patching me up, sir. I honestly thought, once those robots captured me, that would be the end of me." The man just nodded but kept an impassive stance as he looked at Jack. As Jack looked at the man, he saw that he was far different than any Atlas personal he'd encountered before.

His mask completely obscured his face, leaving only an impassive face that had bright orange eyes that glowed with intensity. The mechanical hand that came from his right shoulder was a bit weird for him, but Jack didn't comment on it. The man wore a trench coat over some armor and his hands were encased in thick metal gloves. His right arm held a cane with a glowing sphere on top, which meant he had to hold the can in a hand grip that was below the sphere. Find the design a bit odd, Jack looked at the man.

"So, when can I go meet with my friends? Are we still in Vale?" The man just looked at his colleagues, who have him a look to tell the boy or else, before looking back at Jack.

"Boy." The man's mechanized and deep voice surprised Jack as well as his accent, which Jack couldn't identify at all, left Jack with a sense of dread for some reason. "You need to listen to what I say and keep calm. If you don't, I guarantee that you'll experience great pain." Shocked to hear that, Jack began to feel something was wrong.

"What's going on?" Demanded Jack, starting to panic despite his best attempts to stay calm. The man just shook his head before bring up his hands in surrender, dropping his cane to do so.

"Jack, you must remain calm. If you do so, I'll try to explain the situation as best as I can. Do you understand?" Swallowing, Jack slowly nodded and tried to use his military training to keep calm. Sighing, the man summoned a holographic screen, shocking Jack as he didn't brought out a scroll or similar device, before pressing something. "This will shock you immensely. I'm sorry to say, but that's not your actual body. Look at your hands." That feeling of something was wrong, very wrong, returning, Jack looked at his hands and was shocked to see that they weren't hands. Just arms that ended with a double-barreled gun with bayonet attachments.

"What! What did you do to me?!" Yelled Jack. Once he heard his voice, he stood still. His voice…it wasn't his voice. It was just a heavily synthesized version of it with a metallic tone to it. Taking a step back, he fell down to the ground on his butt. He didn't feel anything when he touched the ground. Looking at his body, he saw nothing but a thin, skeletal-like body that was covered lightly in armor. Feeling his head, he realized that it was much smaller than he was used. Panicking even more, Jack suddenly went into the air. Turning around, he saw that there were thrusters on his back that allowed him to fly and he had two wing stabilizers that likely helped with flight. Upon seeing all this, he looked at the man before him, all calm and collected. "What the hell did you do to me!?" The man simply raised his hand at this.

"Calm yourself, Jack. I'm willing to help you through this, but I can't if you panic. So please, just calm yourself." Jack, however, stressed from seeing his new body, just flew away, trying to get away from here. Upon seeing the door, he flew over to it, only to be stopped by two men in heavy armor, their multi-eyed optics scared Jack as they gave the men an insect like look and gave them a boost in the fear factor when they're armor already accomplished that with its heavy armor and height. To panicked to care, Jack tried to fly past them, only for them to grab him and hold him down.

"Doctor! Should we sedate him?" Asked one of the guards as they held Jack down, who was struggling to get away from their strong grip. The man just shook his head before bringing up his holographic screen. With a push of a button, Jack suddenly felt his mind beginning to shut down as numerous sedatives began to flood his brain. In only a few seconds, he was knocked unconscious. With the subject incapacitated, the man with the cane looked at everyone.

"Get him stabilized and restrain him further. I'll have to explain the whole situation while he's restrained. And inform 117 about this as well as the captain." Everyone just nodded before they did their assigned tasks. As they did so, miss Burns looked at the man in charge, pity in her eyes. The man ignored it and watched as everyone began to do their duties.

* * *

 **Later**

* * *

Jack felt some things being injected into his bloodstream. Whatever it was, it energizes him and allowed him to open his eyes. Looking around his surrounding, he saw that he was in the room that he was in before he was knocked out. The same room that he first saw himself as a robot. Starting to panic again he looked at himself and saw that it was the same situation. Instead of flesh, he saw metal armor and wires. Upon seeing this, he tried to rationalize this all to be just a nightmare.

" **It has to be!"** Thought Jack as he panicked more. **"I'm just having a bad nightmare. The robots must have set this up to break me. Try to subvert me to their side. It must be! I can't be a…robot!"** As he tried to deny it, the more he felt that wasn't the case. Eventually, he calmed down enough to see that this was indeed real. Looking at his new arms, he began to think about his life now. **"I…I can't believe this is happening to me. Why did this happen to me? I did nothing to deserve this."** Though he wanted to cry, his new body prevented him from doing so. The only indication that he was sad was him eyes dimming down. As he was wallowing in his grieve, a voice yelled out.

"Have you finally accepted what you are now?" Asked the voice. Looking for the source, Jack found it to be the man from before. As he walked toward Jack, the boy looked at him in sadness. Though the boy wanted to be angry at the man, even blame him for all this, he couldn't for some reason. His mind just couldn't process it. When the man was near Jack, he placed a hand on his right arm. He then looked over the boy, seeing that his body was completely restrained on a medical table. After a minute of observation, the man spoke again. "Well, have you?" Closing his eyes, Jack nodded. "Good. Now let me explain what happened. A few months ago, you were captured by a group of machines that are identified as Mils. The reason for this was because you acquired some info about them, which you transferred into your scroll. That caused them to capture you and turn you into one of them. Why, I have no idea. Perhaps as a sick joke or something." Turning to Jack, he asked if he got all that. Jack, shocked about all this information, just nodded.

"So…you don't know why they did this to me?" Asked Jack, looking at his body.

"No idea." Said the man, stroking his metal chin. "From my encounters with them, the only times that they do this is because they're low on soldiers, they're in the bio-medical corps of Mils, the whims of their commanders, or because they get some personal satisfaction from turning organics into cyborgs. My guess, these Mils are from the bio-medical corps, but it can really be any of them or even a combination of them." He then waved his hand. "I'll need more information in order to understand their reasoning. I hope that the assault teams have acquired some intel from the Mils bases that they've attacked." He then brought up his right hand and touched the gauntlet there, which caused the restraints to be removed from his person. Getting up, Jack looked at the man, who began to walk away and urged him to follow him. With some hesitance, Jack followed him to wherever he was taking him. Once they left the room, it took only a few minutes for them to be among other people and for Jack to be shocked at who was walking among them.

There were the occasional humans walking with them and some humanoids that could pass as Faunas, but the grand majority of the people around him were so non-human that they had to be a different species. One species had a split mouth that had an opening on the bottom with four mandibles that moves when it spoke. Another was small, almost dwarf size, and wore some sort of gas mask connected to a large tank on their back. And a third was a floating, bulbous species that had a snake like head, which looked at him in curiosity. And there were far more numerous and differing species that Jack was amazed at all this.

"Amazed, boy?" Asked the man suddenly, causing Jack to look at him.

"Yes. There are so many differing sentient species here. How is this possible?" Asked Jack as he tried to comprehend all this. "What is going on?"

"All will be explained by the captain of this ship and 117." With that, the rest of the trip went silent as Jack basked in the spectacles before him. Both the aliens and his surroundings. The hallways were similar to Atlas architecture but was more rugged in appearance. The hallways were also thinner than most Atlas hallways and taller, most likely for the bigger species here, which some were over ten feet tall. Eventually, after ten minutes of walking, the two entered a conference-like room with multiple chairs, of varying size, surrounding a holographic table with a large T.V. on the other end of the room, on the wall. Taking a seat, the man motioned for Jack to sit on one of the smaller chairs. He did so hesitantly and looked at the man after he did so, who just stayed silent, obviously waiting for someone.

As they waited, Jack began to consider if this was all a ploy by someone or even the White Fang. To get him to join their side. Now that he was this machine, he had no doubt that people would want to know everything, how he survived such a transfer and the technology in his new body. Not wanting to be dissected, Jack began to consider if he should just run out of this place and never look back. Pondering on it for a minute, Jack concluded that it was impossible as he was sure that the man next to him can prevent him from leaving, not to mention the security soldiers that he encountered before and were surely still lurking in this place. Plus, even if he did escape, who would even believe he was Jack. To them, he was just a machine that needed to be brought to whatever government was close by. Even Winter would bring him to Ironwood before even considering that he was indeed Jack. As he sunk into a deep depression at how his life was ruined, the man suddenly placed his hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Its going to be fine, boy." Said the man looking at Jack, who looked back. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that the man had a ounce of pity and sympathy in his voice. "We'll try our best to give you a normal life again. As best as we can." Still unconvinced that he and his group wasn't trying to convince him to join their side, Jack just looked to the ground. "You believe that we want the technology in your body?" Snapping back up to the man, Jack starred at him for a moment before nodding his head, causing the man to scoff. "Believe me, once you see the more advanced technology here, you would feel foolish for even thinking of such a notion." Looking at the man again, this time in confusion, Jack was about to say something when a door suddenly opened. The two turned around to see, a human male, in his thirties, walking toward them. He was wearing a light brown uniform that had multiple strips on his shoulders. He had brown eyes and black hair. To top it all off, he walked like a soldier, indicating that he was a soldier of some kind. Stopping at the opposite side of Jack and the man, the soldier turned toward them.

"Hello Jack." Said the man as he looked at the boy. Though his stance was like a soldier, his tone was more akin to a father trying to comfort his son over something that happened to him that was out of his control. "First off, I like to apologize for what happened to you. We would have given you a more detailed security team, but our current commander is a bit uncooperative as of late." The man adopted a frustrated and angry tone at that. He took a deep breath before looking at Jack again. "And I'm also sorry that we didn't get to you in time, though I suppose its hollow because of what happened." Jack looked at his body and nodded in agreement. "No doubt that you're confused at what's going on and have many questions regarding your situation. So please, tell us whatever questions that you have. We'll try and answer them to the best of our ability." Jack just looked between the two man, unsure if he should talk. After a nod from the man that was with him since the beginning, Jack sighed.

"First of all, who are you people? What is your goal? And what were those machines, the ones you call Mils? And why did they do this to me?" The two men looked at each other and nodded.

"All understandable questions." Said the man that just came in. "First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bright Noa, captain of the Ra Cailum, flagship of the Londo Bell special forces group." The T.V. on the wall then showed a logo depicting a black triangle. Inside it was a blue L and two golden bells. With them were the words Londo Bell. "And the man next to you is named Viktor, the head of R&D for the Ra Cailum. Londo Bell's goal is to ensure peace and stability across the sectors while also dealing with any terrorists' groups that jeopardize the safety of innocents. All of this is done with minimal collateral damage as much as possible. If you need to eliminate a terrorist group with minimal collateral damage or as a peace keeping force, we're the force to call on." Jack just starred in shock at what he said.

"Sectors? What are you talking about?" Bright just straightened his collar before explaining.

"Keep an open mind on this, Mr. Jack. This may be quite a lot for you to handle." The holographic table then lit up and showed something. Blinking, Jack saw a big ball surrounded by a broken moon. After a few seconds, Jack realized that it was Remnant and its moon.

"That's Remnant." Bright nodded at that.

"Correct. Its your planet with its, oddly damaged, moon." Said Bright. "Now, here's your solar system." The holographic table then zoomed out to reveal what looked like several planets surrounding a much larger planet. All the planets were in differing proximity of the bigger planet and were rotating in their own speeds. Upon seeing this, Jack looked at Bright.

"What is this? Is this the solar system that you're talking about?" Bright nodded.

"Yes, to give a common man's definition of one, a solar system is a set of planets, along with their natural satellites', that are orbiting around a star, which is the sun. On occasion, some planets have asteroid rings surrounding them and some solar systems have smaller bodies of comets, asteroids, and meteoroids. I could go on, but I'll be going off topic." The table then zoomed out to reveal a swirling mass of bright lights. "And this is a galaxy. All those bright lights you see are solar systems. And each solar system has, at least, one habitable planet."

"Or used to or have never been." Said Viktor. Bright ignored him as he continued.

"I recommend you don't try to guess how many solar systems there are in this galaxy, Jack. It'll take awhile for you to do the math." Jack, however, ignored this and just stared in awe at the galaxy, finding its brightness to be beautiful.

"Its beautiful." Said Jack as he continued to stare at the galaxy. He couldn't believe that something like this existed. It almost felt like a dream. He wished that Winter, team RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY were here to see this. They all would have enjoyed this view. After a minute, he looked back at Bright, who stayed still, giving Jack the minute he needed to gaze the galaxy.

"You said that this is a galaxy. There are more?" Bright nodded.

"Five in total. There used to be more, but," Bright frowned. ", let's just say a terrible event happened that drastically reduced the amount of galaxy there are left." Jack just starred at Bright, wondering what could have caused such an event and if he wanted to know. "I would like to go on, but I have a busy schedule, so I'll give you a short version of what caused Londo Bell to form and then I'll tell you why we're here. Is that fine?" Jack just nodded. He really wanted to know what was going on because he was getting confused at all this. Nodding his head in thanks, Bright went on to explain.

"You see, some million years ago, several species in a galaxy mastered FTL travel and meet up with each other. They formed a galactic government and, since then, they've meet other races and helped uplift other races, all of which joined this government. A few wars were fought during that government's time, but nothing major that could threaten it. There was nothing that could oppose them." Bright then frowned. "That is until a science group found an ancient device that allowed them to travel to another galaxy. When this reached the public, people exploded in excitement. To them, it was the greatest find in all of this government's history. The ability to travel between galaxies was thought to be impossible and too time and resource consuming to even attempt. Yet here was a device that was capable of doing just that. Though a handful of politicians wanted to avoid using it, believing it would unleash unspeakable horrors on them, they were ignored and people began sending teams of scientists and soldiers to the device to get it working. When they did, they began to send people to another galaxy. At first, all was well. Colonies were being established and more and more people were going through the device to another galaxy. It looked like a glorious age was going to happen."

"But then war broke out." Said Viktor, causing Bright to sigh and nod in agreement.

"Viktor is right, Jack. Sometime later, the galactic government of that galaxy found the visitors of the other galaxy colonizing on a world they considered sacred. And it just so happens the people that found them were extremely aggressive and violent. A skirmish broke out with the aggressors winning and founding out the location of where the colonists came from. They then launched an attack on the colony world they came from and things escalated from there. When it was learned that each side had a galactic government, peace attempts were attempted but they ended in failure, thus the first Great War started. It lasted for over five thousand years with both sides taking, retaking, or holding systems constantly. The casualties were enormous. It only ended, thank the stars, when newly elected officials on both sides said that enough was enough and peace talks happened again. This time, they succeeded and both sides were forced to give up territories they taken on the galaxy that wasn't their own. A lot of people didn't like it, but they were also sick of war so the treaty that ended the war passed, though tensions were high." He then stopped to looked at Jack. Though his new body wasn't able to express and facial expressions, Bright could tell the boy was horrified. Both at the amount of dead that must have piled up and also how long the war went on. It must have shocked the boy beyond belief as Bright knew that the last war that was fought on Remnant only lasted for a couple of years and it nearly caused humans on the planet to go extinct. From the Grimm, sure, but it was still minuscule compared to what happened in the first Great War. The boy held his head for a few minutes, trying to comprehend so much death, before looking at Bright.

"How could such a war last so long? And what damage did each side cause to each other?" Bright then looked at Viktor, who then spoke.

"To answer the first question, one side own military forces were so disciplined and trained that they didn't care how many of there's died so long as victory is achieved. Though admittedly war fatigue eventually got to them, the fact that the war lasted for five thousand years shows just shows the stubbornness of that side when it comes to wanting to win a war. As for the other," Viktor then spoke in disgust. "They continued because their "religion"," Viktor then made a noise of disgust at the word religion.," Was in danger. Their religious leaders said that their opponents were an affront to their religion and that they must be cleansed from existence. It was only through the assassination of those idiots' successors, who followed their line of thinking, that the war hadn't continued." Viktor then sighed. "As for the 2nd, a great deal." Viktor then had the television behind Bright show case a planet. It was green and blue, signifying grass and water respectively. "This was a planet before the war started. It was perfectly habitable for humans and, by my calculations, far safer to live than in Remnant." The screen then showed various species of animals that had inhabited the planet. Jack was amazed to see such diverse and strange creatures. And the pictures depicted amazing views of natural monuments. Though he was amazed at it all, he knew that, deep down, that it was all gone, which Viktor showed soon.

With a press of a button, the screen changed from the beautiful planet to a red and black planet. The planet had red, angry looking lines all over it as they glowed violently. And Jack could have sworn the black looked like glass.

"And this is what it looks like after the war." Said Viktor, horrifying Jack with the destruction. He then showed pictures of the surface, which showed the sky was permanently black with no sign of life seen aside from the magma on the surface. "All those things you show, those monuments and species, they're all gone. Lost to war. Simply because the planet held supplies to help continue the war in another sector." Upon hearing that, Jack looked at them, horrified beyond belief that such destruction had happened. And it was all done in the name of war. Getting of his seat, Jack tried to walk, but lost his balance and went to the floor. He wanted to throw up. Just imagining all the death that would have happened with destroying a planet made him sick. Despite the want, though, his body simply refused to do so, forcing him to endure the feeling of sickness. He was so busy looking at the floor that he didn't notice Viktor go over and escort him back to the seat.

"Listen Jack, all that was countless generations ago. All those involved are now dead and the hatred that came after the war, is pretty much gone. The two governments that have been involved in that war are gone. Dissolved to better unite those from opposing sides. And since then, despite quite a few bumps, things have been going well. Racism between different species isn't as frequent as before, economics are going strong, and there hasn't been a war between organic species since." Though Jack wanted to believe him, he noticed something when Viktor said organic species.

"There's been another war, wasn't there?" Asked Jack as he looked at Viktor. "Between organics and synthetics? The ones that turned me to this." Jack then pointed to his body. Bright then sighed before nodding.

"Yes, the 2nd Great War." Said Bright. "To make it short, there was a war between the two governments between a robotic species of hyper intelligent machines. It got extremely bloody, to the point that both governments were forced to dissolve and unite under a single banner. Even then, we would have lost if those machines didn't want peace." Bright then looked at the logo of Londo Bell. "And that was only seventy years ago." Upon hearing that, Jack looked at the two. Though he should have been horrified, he kind of expected this when Viktor said there was no war between organic species and when Bright said the first Great war was the first. Trying to clench his fists, Jack found he couldn't, making him realize that they were gun arms and not normal human hands. Sick of hearing all this death and destruction, Jack slammed his fists into the table, slightly surprised to find it didn't break under the force of his blow. The two men just looked at Jack as he repeatedly slammed his fists into the table. After the fifth strike, Jack finally calmed down.

"I'm sorry." Said Jack. "But how could all this happen? All that death and destruction? Couldn't there be a way to solve all this peacefully?" Bright just sighed.

"Trust me. A great deal of those that participated in that war regretted that peace couldn't have been achieved sooner. That is why Londo Bell was formed." He then looked at the logo again. "To make sure something a war of those proportions never happen again. So far, its been going well. In this task force's lifetime, we've successfully prevented galactic war from breaking out at least seven times and we stopped countless smaller wars as well." Bright then looked at Jack, who was looking at the table. Walking over, he put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know my words are nothing compared to all those that died in those wars but let me assure you that we're doing our best to save as many lives as we can. It's the job of Londo Bell. Its bloody and we have to make tough decisions, with us questioning what we're doing is right or wrong, but we're doing the best we can to preserve peace and lives." He then sighed. "Unfortunately, we couldn't have saved you from this." Jack just looked at his body again, hating that he kept seeing metal instead of flesh.

"Who were the things that did this to me?" Asked Jack, wanting to change the topic now. Bright just nodded.

"Right, to answer your question from before. The 2nd great war wasn't against the ones that captured you. More on that later, but those things are still dangerous. They're called Mils. Robotic soldiers created for war. They were created by an ancient alien species. No one knows what happened to them, but they placed Mils on countless planets. Ranging from small security teams to massive armies. It seemed Remnant is filled with the later. Our ground forces are dealing with them as we speak, but its only a matter of time before they activate fully and wipe everyone on Remnant out." He then looked at Jack. "The Mil you faced in that bunker was just a standard Mil commander. Beefed up with special shield, but it should show you just how dangerous they are." Upon hearing that, Jack looked at Bright in shock. If a single commander can take on two experienced huntsmen, and thirteen huntsmen in training, then he dreaded how powerful they are.

"And they're fully activated?" Asked Jack in shock. Bright just nodded.

"Yes. Time, it appears, has taken a toll on the forces here. They're all either in disrepair or just gone, lost to time. Though this has given us an advantage, its only a matter of time before they regroup, and we'll have a real war on our hands." He then looked at Jack seriously. "We need to end them before that happens and to do that, we need to take their commander. The Internecine." The T.V. then depicted a large pillar like construct. "That thing is in charge of all Mil forces on the planet. It does everything, from overseeing production of new Mils to making war strategies. If we take it out, we'll cripple the Mils ability to coordinate with each other." He then looked at Jack's frame. "Which is probably why, they captured you. You took data from one of their commanders. That commander must have data on where the Internecine is and that could spell trouble for the Mils if that fell to the wrong hands. As for why they turned you into one of them, my guess is that they want more soldiers." Viktor just nodded.

"Its most likely that. From the reports, the bases we hit don't have as many forces as previous worlds with large Mil armies. You're lucky that they hadn't finished the process of converting you into a loyal soldier. They would have stripped you of your individuality and freewill if they did." Jack gulped upon hearing that. Though he still wished he was saved before being turned to a robot, he liked the fact that they saved him before he lost his free-will and individuality. Wanting to move past that topic, Jack spoke next about the data.

"So, what about that data you got from me? Anything good?" Asked Jack with hope. If these Mils were willing to take away a person's free-will just to get more soldiers, then they need to be taken out.

"A bit. Important facilities and R&D labs." Said Bright. "Our forces have been busy taking out those facilities along with others. So, I'd say yes. We've haven't been able to find the Internecine though, but its only a matter of time." Jack nodded at satisfaction at that, happy that something was going well.

"So, what about me?" Asked Jack. "I can't exactly go back home. My parents will see me as a freak, my nations will want to dissect me, and my friends will try to destroy me the moment they see me." Upon hearing the sadness in his synthesized voice, Bright patted his shoulder.

"I think we can help with that." Bright then looked at Viktor. "If you want, you can join our mission in taking out the Mils here and saving Remnant. We can help you deal with your new body and, hopefully, smooth your relations with your friends once you meet them again. If you don't want to join, that's alright. We'll just help you get used to that body and your friends. You're help isn't all that required. What's your choice?" Jack just looked at the two men, thinking on what to do. On one hand, all of this seemed to be beyond his level of expertise. He was a huntsmen or Remnant. He was trained to defend the kingdoms from threats, not get involved with galaxy level threats. Plus, he still wasn't sure if he could trust any of these peoples. They were far too nice to be fully trusted. But on the other hand, these Mils were clearly dangerous and a threat to Remnant. If what happened to him was any indication, they'll either kill those that stand in their way or convert them into mindless soldiers for them to send to the slaughter. The fact that they're taking away the individuality of others, made Jack angry. No sentient being deserved to have their individuality taken away, not even the lowest of criminals. And above all, he was a huntsmen, a person dedicated to defending the innocent. And these Mils were clearly a threat to the innocent. Honestly seeing that it would go against his principles if he refused to help, Jack spoke out.

"Alright, I'll help, but only for my planet." Said Jack. "I just want to focus on that." Bright nodded in understanding.

"That's completely fine. We're pretty much focused here, for the time being anyway." Bright then looked at Viktor. "Get this boy to the training area. Get him fully acquainted in his new body and get him familiar with our equipment and tactics. I'll have Irelia help you out." Viktor just nodded before leading Jack away. As they walked, Viktor spoke

"You're sure about this?" Asked Viktor. "You don't know much about us and you all have what we told you. Are you sure that we can be trusted?" Jack just looked at the floor.

"I don't fully trust you guys. For all I know, you could be lying and trying to get me on your side. But these Mils," Jack then shrugged. ", they need to be taken out. There is no denying that. They're a danger to the people of Remnant and I won't let them hurt anyone from Remnant. It goes against the principles of a huntsmen if I did otherwise. So, even if I don't trust you guys much, I'm willing to give you guys a chance." Scoffing a bit in respect, Viktor nodded his head and went the rest of the journey without saying a word. After a few minutes, the two stopped in a large room with multiple capsules.

"Uh, this is the training room?" Asked Jack, confused at seeing the room. He expected it to be a large exotic room with large practice rooms from where people can perform team-building exercises with a section dedicating to one on one fights. This was just a large room with multiple capsules that served no purpose other than cover. Viktor just scoffed before going over to a capsule and opening it. He then motioned to Jack to get in, which he did after some hesitation. After he got in, Viktor began to type on his right gauntlet.

"If you feel a jolt, don't worry. That's what most people feel when they try this for the first time." Said Viktor. Before Jack could ask what he meant the capsule suddenly close and Jack suddenly felt a jolt. Not to unpleasant or painful, but shocking, nonetheless. His vision then went white, blinding him for a few seconds. Once it ended, Jack was shocked to find that he was in a plain of grass and trees. He was currently standing on a large white tile set. Looking around in awe, Jack saw floating rocks all over him and strange birds were flying in the skies.

"Sorry about the jolt. We tried to remove it, but short of removing all your nerves, we can only reduce it to an unpleasant jolt." Jack then looked to see Viktor coming to him in a burst of blue light. He then looked around. "Amazing, isn't it? This is a simulated world based on Harvest, a planet in the Polaris Galaxy. The planet is quite unique. It has a rare element in it that allows the rocks to float in the air in a form of suspended animation. It was just discovered and we're still trying to figure out what causes this anomaly."

"Its amazing." Said Jack, causing Viktor to nod in agreement.

"As much as I think you want to continue gazing the rocks, we're not here to observe. We're here to train." Upon hearing that, Jack got into a fighting stance, ready for a fight.

"Okay, my opponent is this Irelia, right? Where is she?" Viktor just looked at a holographic screen on his gauntlet.

"She should be arriving now." Said Viktor. As if on que, a blue lightning bolt crashed before them. Jack jumped back, but Viktor stood where he was, unfazed at all. The lightning soon went away to reveal a young woman, probably in her late twenties to early thirties.

To say the woman was beautiful wasn't doing her any justice. Her pale, porcelain-like face was smooth and delicate, as if it can easily break if it was touched. Her long, dark blue hair fell down her back like a waterfall. Her slim and, no doubt, toned body was encased in a set of armor that showcased her figure well, while providing amble protection. The armor she wore was similar to the one used by those soldiers that Jack saw, the ones with multiple eyes, but was thinner and more streamlined for a female. Perhaps it was even thinner for her. On her head she wore no helmet, rather she had a headgear that floated on top of her head, surprising Jack. Upon opening her eyes, she revealed that her eyes were a similar color to her hair. They looked stoic and uncaring, like Winter when she meet new people, but his time with the experienced Atlas specialist made Jack learn how to distinguish that small bit of emotions in people's eyes whenever they're being stoic. Despite the fact the woman looked stoic, Jack saw that, within deep in her eyes, she had nothing but pity and sympathy for him, something that Jack could understand.

"This is Irelia." Said Viktor as he spoke up. "I believe you're acquainted with her." Upon hearing that, Jack looked at Viktor in surprise, wondering why he said that. He then looked back at Irelia before racking his memory for any woman that looked remotely like her. It only took him a few minutes before he got it. Upon remembering, Jack was stunned as she was the woman that announced Sona way back during the ball.

"You're that woman. The woman in the ball." Said Jack, stunned beyond belief. When Irelia nodded her head, he then thought of the implications of this. If she was here…,then that meant that Sona was also with these people, along with Xayah and Ahri. As he tried to process this, Irelia looked at Viktor, her blue eyes showing little emotions.

"Viktor." Said Irelia, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Irelia." Said Viktor, tapping his cane a bit. The two starred at each other with Viktor looking at Irelia's eyes. The two stared down at each other for a few minutes before Irelia spoke.

"I take it you're here to help me train the boy?" Though she said it stoically, Viktor noted that it had a hint of annoyance, something he ignored.

"Yes. I'm to help him familiarize with his new body and to help him with more advanced tactics that can help him use his body more effectively." Irelia nodded upon hearing that. She showed a bit of emotions, showing sadness, before going back to her mask of stoicism.

"Then let's begin." She then looked at Jack, who finally stopped thinking at the implications of her, and her group at the ball, being with Londo Bell. She then placed a hand on Jack. "Ask you're questions later. I'll answer them to the best of my ability." Upon hearing the motherly nature she said it, Jack looked at her in shock. Irelia just smiled a bit before walking away. After she made a fair amount of distance away from them, she turned and faced Jack. "We'll start off by engaging in a sparing match. To try and figure out where we need to start first." With that the back of her armor opened up and out, to Jack's surprise, several large blades that began to float around Irelia's head.

The blades, though they looked like normal steel, left Jack uneasy. Just looking at them and at how sharp they looked, made him think they can do damage to him quite easily. Trying to gulp, but finding he couldn't, likely because he was a cyborg now, he got into a fighting stance, one that was poor for his new body, readying himself for a fight. After getting away from Jack, Viktor looked at the two combatants.

"You can begin." Said Viktor. With that, Irelia rushed toward Jack, her blades following. Looking at his opponent, Jack let out a roar, which came more like a bird shriek, and charged. Upon seeing that, Viktor sighed.

"Big mistake." Said Viktor. He then proceeded to watch as Irelia beat the boy down in submission. Rather quickly, he noted.


End file.
